   
St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge
Air Quality Related Values
An Air Quality Related Value (AQRV) is a resource, as identified by the Federal Land Manager, for one or more federal areas, that may be adversely affected by a change in air quality. The resource may include visibility or a specific scenic, cultural, physical, biological, ecological, or recreational resource identified by the Federal Land Manager for a particular area.
Aquatic Resources
St. Marks Wilderness contains a variety of aquatic resources, including swamps, fresh and brackish water marshes, creeks, and salt water estuaries.
Water quality in these areas may be affected by pollutants in rainfall or dryfall. As a result, water quality in these areas is considered to be a sensitive AQRV value. They may be affected by atmospheric deposition of nitrogen from industry, power plants, agriculture, and automobiles.
Excess nitrogen contributes to eutrophication which is characterized by algae blooms, loss of submerged aquatic vegetation, and deterioration of fish and
wildlife habitat. In addition, rainfall may carry toxic metals or organic pollutants. Certain species of fish in the area contain elevated
concentrations of mercury.
Fauna/Wildlife
St. Marks Wilderness provides habitat for a rich variety of wildlife, including many species of waterfowl, alligators, snakes, black bears, and
deer. The area also provides habitat for a number of endangered species, red-cockaded woodpeckers, West Indian manatees, wood
storks, Atlantic green turtles, Atlantic loggerhead turtles, and Kemp’s Ridley turtles. St. Marks is home to the bald eagle, as well, which is afforded special protection under the Bald & Golden Eagle Protection Act. The fish and wildlife of St. Marks are considered
sensitive air quality related values (AQRVs). Atmospheric deposition of mercury has resulted in elevated levels of mercury in certain species of fish.
Soils
The susceptibility of soils in St. Marks to pollutant deposition has not been investigated.
Vegetation
Certain plant species in St. Marks are known to be sensitive to ground-level ozone. However, the area has not been surveyed for ozone injury.
The following links detail plant species sensitive to ozone.
Visibility
Visibility is a sensitive AQRV at St. Marks. Visibility impairment due to fine particle pollution has been documented at St. Marks. The link provided below is to the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) website for access to visibility data.
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