Risks of mining to salmonid-bearing watersheds

Mining provides resources for people but can pose risks to ecosystems that support cultural keystone species. Our synthesis reviews relevant aspects of mining operations, describes the ecology of salmonid-bearing watersheds in northwestern North America, and compiles the impacts of metal and coal extraction on salmonids and their habitat. We conservatively estimate that this region encompasses nearly 4000 past producing mines, with present-day operations ranging from small placer sites to massive open-pit projects that annually mine more than 118 million metric tons of earth. Despite impact assessments that are intended to evaluate risk and inform mitigation, mines continue to harm salmonid-bearing watersheds via pathways such as toxic contaminants, stream channel burial, and flow regime alteration. To better maintain watershed processes that benefit salmonids, we highlight key windows during the mining governance life cycle for science to guide policy by more accurately accounting for stressor complexity, cumulative effects, and future environmental change.This review is based on an October 2019 workshop held at the University of Montana Flathead Lake Biological Station (more information at https://flbs.umt.edu/ newflbs/research/working-groups/mining-and-watersheds/). We thank E. O’Neill and other participants for valuable contributions. A. Beaudreau, M. LaCroix, P. McGrath, K. Schofield, and L. Brown provided helpful reviews of earlier drafts. Three anonymous reviewers provided thoughtful critiques that greatly improved the manuscript. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Our analysis comes from a western science perspective and hence does not incorporate Indigenous knowledge systems. We acknowledge this gap and highlight that the lands and waters we explore in this review have been stewarded by Indigenous Peoples for millennia and continue to be so. Funding: The workshop was cooperatively funded by the Wilburforce Foundation and The Salmon Science Network funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Author contributions: C.J.S. led the review process, writing, and editing. C.J.S. and E.K.S. co-organized the workshop. E.K.S. and J.W.M. extensively contributed to all aspects of the review conceptualization, writing, and editing. A.R.W., S.A.N., J.L.E., D.M.C., S.L.O., R.L.M., F.R.H., D.C.W., and J.W. significantly contributed to portions of the review conceptualization, writing, and editing. J.C., M.Ca., M.Co., C.A.F., G.K., E.D.L., R.M., V.M., J.K.M., M.V.M., and N.S. provided writing and editing and are listed alphabetically. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Data and materials availability: All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials.Ye

Radionuclide migration in forest ecosystems - Results of a model validation study

The primary objective of the IAEA's BIOMASS Forest Working Group (FWG) was to bring together experimental radioecologists and modellers to facilitate the exchange of information which could be used to improve our ability to understand and forecast radionuclide transfers within forests. This paper describes a blind model validation exercise which was conducted by the FWG to test nine models which members of the group had developed in response to the need to predict the fate of radiocaesium in forests in Europe after the Chernobyl accident. The outcomes and conclusions of this exercise are summarised. It was concluded that, as a group, the models are capable of providing an envelope of predictions which can be expected to enclose experimental data for radiocaesium contamination in forests over the time scale tested. However, the models are subject to varying degrees of conceptual uncertainty which gives rise to a very high degree of divergence between individual model predictions, particularly when forecasting edible mushroom contamination. Furthermore, the forecasting capability of the models over future decades currently remains untested. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved