Maine Field Office
Environmental Contaminants
Maine EC Home | Recent & Upcoming Work | Programs | FAQs | Links
Contaminant Reports | Technical Assistance & Cooperative Projects
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Maine Field Office Environmental Contaminants |
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Maine EC Home | Recent & Upcoming Work | Programs | FAQs | Links |
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Contaminant Reports | Technical Assistance & Cooperative Projects |
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PROGRAMS |
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| 1. On-Refuge & Off-Refuge Investigations | ||
| Contaminants biologists conduct investigations on National Wildlife Refuges and in other areas where fish and wildlife resources managed by the Department of the Interior may be affected by environmental contaminants, or where partners identify a potential contaminant problem. Funds for these On-Refuge and Off-Refuge environmental contaminants investigations are obtained after an exhaustive competitive process where study proposals are peer-reviewed and ranked based on scientific merit. |
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Over the last decade, the Maine Field Office has examined contaminant levels in non-viable bald eagle and common loon eggs collected throughout Maine, in common and Arctic tern eggs recovered from several Gulf of Maine islands, in whole-body brook trout and white suckers from several Atlantic salmon rivers, in smallmouth bass and freshwater mussels from the Dennys River in Meddybemps and East Machias River in East Machias, and in sediments and chain pickerel from Sunkhaze Stream in Milford. | |
| Several Environmental Contaminant Reports have been generated as a result of these investigations. Information from these USFWS studies are used by federal and state project managers and policy makers to direct cleanup activities at refuges, military installations, and Superfund hazardous waste sites. |
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| 2. Technical Assistance | |
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The Maine Field Office regularly provide technical assistance to USFWS personnel in other programs (e.g., Endangered Species, Partners and Private Lands, Federal Projects, Fisheries, Law Enforcement, Migratory Birds) and to the National Wildlife Refuge staff. Contaminants biologists are also involved in other technical assistance and cooperative projects including Superfund investigations, and frog, loon, and pesticides investigations. Partners and collaborators in these projects are from other federal agencies (e.g., Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Geological Survey/Biological Resources Division), tribes (e.g., Penobscot Indian Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, Aroostook Band of Micmacs), state agencies (e.g., Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission, Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife) universities (e.g., University of Maine), and non-government organizations (e.g., BioDiversity Research Institute). |
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| 3. Pre-Acquisition Surveys | |
| When Federal funds are used to acquire lands for fish and wildlife conservation, contaminant surveys must be conducted to ensure the areas are safe for fish, wildlife, and the general public. The Maine Field Office provides assistance to USFWS National Wildlife Refuge staff, and to Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife regional biologists, so that additions to the refuge system or to the state wildlife management area program are thoroughly examined for any existing contaminant problems. Our office has provided input during the acquisition of lighthouse islands from the U.S. Coast Guard, during the transfer of closed military bases (e.g. Loring Air Force Base in Limestone) from the U.S. Department of Defense, and for new parcels at Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge. |  |
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| 4. Oil and Chemical Spills | |
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Within the Service's Northeast Region, there is a cadre of Field Response Coordinators and other staff trained to respond to coastal or inland oil and chemical spills. On major spills, Service personnel work in two areas: spill response and damage assessment. Duties in these areas include identification of sensitive areas, recovery of oiled wildlife for cleaning and rehabilitation, shoreline assessments, and sample collections. |
| The Maine Field Office is the primary Service responder for inland oil spills in Maine. The Field Office also provides backup for the Service's Field Response Coordinators responsible for coastal Maine. Staff from the office have responded to the North Cape (Charlestown,RI), Julie N (Portland, ME), Sanborn Pond (Brooks, ME), B120 (Buzzards Bay, MA), and M/V Athos (Delaware River, PA/NJ) spills. |
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| 5. Natural Resource Damage Assessments | |
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The Department of the Interior is authorized to conduct Natural Resource Damage Assessments
(NRDAs)
under the
provisions of the Clean Water Act, the Oil Pollution Act, and the Comprehensive
Environmental Response and Compensation Liability Act (Superfund). The
Service, as a Bureau of the Department, may conduct damage assessments when fish and
wildlife trust resources are harmed
following oil
and chemical spills. For example, a NRDA was conducted by state and
federal agencies following the 1996 Portland Harbor and Fore River "Julie N" oil spill. NRDAs are not routinely conducted by the staff from the Maine Field Office, but conducted by specialists in the Service's New England Field Office in Concord, New Hampshire. Wildlife and shoreline surveys or collections of local biota and other media samples (e.g., sediment and surface water) to support NRDAs are performed by Maine Field Office staff.
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Maine EC Home | Recent & Upcoming Work | Programs | FAQs | Links |
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Contaminant Reports | Technical Assistance & Cooperative Projects |
