CRESP (Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation)

Our overall goal for ecological risk at the Department of Energy sites is to refine and test ecological risk methodologies for specific bioindicators; and to begin to examine ecological land use options and values. Initially our questions in the latter goal will be broad to allow us to define the problem and identify important questions with respect to land use and valuation. The former goal, developing, refining and testing ecological risk bioindicators, will involve working with specific biota at different levels of ecological complexity. The over all goal is to develop an integrative approach that incorporates biology from the level of individual health to trophic dynamics (ecosystem level).

These main questions underlie our contribution to this project:

1. What bioindicators can be further developed, refined, and tested to evaluate the risk to organisms and ecological systems at DOE sites.
2. What are the uses and perceptions of ecological habitats at DOE sites; how is the site now being used, how should it be used, and by whom? This involves identifying the stakeholders within the realm of ecological and environmental resources and values.
3. How can restoration ecology be used to evaluate degradation and the potential for recovery at DOE sites?
4. What are the ecological and human exposure pathways at DOE sites?
5. What is the relationship of remediation to restoration and Natural resources damage assessment (NRDA)

CURRENT PROJECTS ARE:

* POPULATION AND ECOSYSTEM INDICATORS OF ECOLOGICAL HEALTH OR IMPAIRMENT

• - Using Mourning Doves as indicators of dove population health and risk to consumers.
• - Using Wood Ducks to understand contaminant uptake and potential exposure for their populations and human consumers.
• - Using Raccoons and Opossums as bioindicators of contamination and risk to human consumers
• - Using long-lived Slider Turtles for short-term biomonitoring of behavioral deficits.
• - Using Herring Gulls as models for assessing behavioral and physiological deficits of contaminants .
• - Developing and implementing the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) as an indicator of particular types of ecosystem degradation.
• - Developing biokinetic models with birds to assess potential hazards and risks from management options (such as draining L Lake).
• - Developing bioindicators for kelp, invertebrates, fish and birds in the Aleutians.
  

* ECOLOGICAL RISK AND RESTORATION OF FUNCTIONING ECOSYSTEMS

• - Selecting native plants as indicators of restoration potential on fly ash soils.
• - Using plants to assess damage to plant systems, and associated frugivorous (seed and fruit-eating) birds and mammals.
• - Determining the usefulness of local seed banks or supplementation to speed-up succession on fly ash and other degraded soils.
• - Development long term monitoring plans.
  

* IMPORTANCE OF ECOLOGICAL RESOURCES TO STAKEHOLDERS AND FUTURE LAND USES

• - How do stakeholders value different resources?
• - How would stakeholders like to integrate remediation with restoration?
• - Understanding the perceptions and attitudes of hunters and fisherman regarding ecological resources on DOE sites.
• - Understanding how the general public perceives the importance of ecological resources, and associated future land uses, for DOE sites.
• - Developing methodologies to assess perceptions and attitudes of stakeholders about ecological resources, and associated future land uses involving ecosystem values
• - Assessing perceptions and behavior of fishermen on DOE Sites, including potential risks from eating fish and other resources (i.e. turtles).
• - Assessing perceptions about land use overall.
  

COLLABORATORS:

Dr. Michael Gochfeld            UMDNJ

Dr. Michael Greenburg         Rutgers University

Dr. Jim Clarke                       Vanderbilt University

Dr. K. Higley                           Oregon State University

Dr. C W. Powers                   Vanderbilt University

Dr. D. Kosson                        Vanderbilt University

Stakeholders have been involved in several aspects of these projects, including accompanying us on the Amchitka Expedition to collect foods in their traditional manner, and they have been authors on several projects.

 

This project is funded by the Department of Energy.

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