Remediation and Restoration Projects for Saginaw River and Bay AOC
On this page:
- Table of Projects
- Colonial Waterbird Population, Reproduction and Health Impairments
- Assessing the Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems Beneficial Use Impairment
- Bald Eagle Productivity Flights and Partnerships Investigating Contaminants in Chicks
More on the Saginaw River and Bay AOC
|
Project Title |
Project Description |
Date Completed |
Targeted BUI(s) |
|
Tributary water quality data collection |
This project will provide support for a comprehensive Saginaw River and Bay water quality monitoring plan. The plan focuses on sampling several tributary mouths within the watershed. |
Ongoing |
• Eutrophication or Undesirable Algae |
|
Assessment of population, reproductive and health impairments in colonial water birds breeding in Michigan’s AOCs |
The project is investigating population effects associated with contaminants in fish eating birds by assessing breeding numbers and reproductive rates in the Saginaw River and Bay AOC. |
Ongoing |
• Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems • Degradation of Fish & Wildlife Populations |
|
Analysis of Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Herring Gull Eggs in the Great Lakes |
This project will analyze a representative sub-sample or aliquot of archived herring gull egg composites from selected colonies sampled in the U.S. since the inception of herring gull egg collection in the U.S. |
Ongoing |
• Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems • Degradation of Fish & Wildlife Populations |
|
Assessment of the Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems BUI in Michigan's Great Lakes AOCs |
This project is assessing existing data, including conducting a literature review, and determining if fish tissue contaminant levels are protective of wildlife in consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contaminants specialists. |
Ongoing |
• Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems • Degradation of Fish & Wildlife Populations |
|
Saginaw Bay Microbial Source Tracking Project |
This project will identify locations and sources of fecal contamination that negatively impact Saginaw Bay, especially at locations that the public uses for recreational purposes. Once sources are located and identified, the information will be given to necessary agencies so that appropriate remedial measures can be taken to eliminate those sources, restore the beneficial use, and ultimately keep the beaches safe and open. |
Ongoing |
• Beach Closings |
|
Restoring River Connectivity: Evaluating Fish as Vectors of Contaminants in the Saginaw River/Bay |
This project evaluated the level of contaminants present in fish species above and below the Frankenmuth dam to determine the impact reestablishment of a fishery will have in the reconnected river section above the dam. |
2017 |
• Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems • Degradation of Fish & Wildlife Populations |
Colonial Waterbird Population, Reproduction and Health Impairments
Beginning in 2010, with support from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), researchers from Calvin College and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) have investigated how persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including PCBs and dioxins, impact Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia), and Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) populations, reproduction, and health within Saginaw Bay. Because these fish-eating birds can bioaccumulate contaminants from their food, they can indicate the effects of contaminants on species high in the food chain and overall ecosystem health.
Understanding how contaminants affect these birds is an important step towards removal of two BUIs:
- Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems
- Degradation of Fish and Wildlife Populations
Researchers and FWS have collected data from water birds on Charity Reef, Little Charity Island, and the Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) in the Saginaw Bay and from less polluted reference sites on Lakes Huron and Superior. Infertility and egg mortality are higher within the Saginaw Bay sites than at reference sites. Chicks within the Saginaw Bay also had higher deformity rates, slower growth rates, and their immune system was compromised compared to reference sites. Research is expected to continue until recovery metrics are met and BUIs are removed.
Assessing the Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems Beneficial Use Impairment
The Saginaw River and Bay AOC is among six AOCs in Michigan that currently have a Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems BUI. Via the GLRI, U.S. FWS partnered with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), to perform a state-wide assessment of the BUI at each AOC. This review highlighted data gaps which, if addressed, would offer AOC managers a more accurate determination of the contamination exposure of wildlife.
This assessment examined the impacts of DDE (a breakdown product of DDT), PCBs, and dioxin toxic equivalents (TEQs) on bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), Caspian terns (Hydroprogne caspia), and mink (Neovison vison) in the Saginaw River and Bay AOC. Examining these effects is particularly important since they were the basis for the original BUI listing. In addition, the results of recent studies on other colonial nesting birds, black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), walleye (Sander vitreus), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), and forage fish in this AOC were reviewed. For this AOC, it was recommended that the Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems BUI be retained, and that studies on bald eagle productivity and contaminant levels, contaminant concentrations in herring gulls and fish, and heath and productivity of colonial nesting birds continue so that the status of the BUI may be evaluated in the future.
Bald Eagle Productivity Flights and Partnerships Investigating Contaminants in Chicks
GLRI funding has given the U.S. FWS the opportunity to conduct flights to determine bald eagle nesting and breeding success (productivity) in targeted AOCs, including the Saginaw River and Bay AOC, beginning in 2015. These efforts are a sub-project of the larger efforts to assess the Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems BUI in Michigan AOCs.
In the Saginaw River and Bay AOC, fish are a substantial part of eagle diets, which can lead to eagles accumulating aquatic contaminants including PCBs and DDE. FWS has partnered with the Michigan EGLE to pair productivity information with information from a concurrent EGLE study investigating contaminant levels in bald eagle chick plasma within the AOC. Data are currently being analyzed, and results will help illustrate linkages between reproductive success and contaminants in eagles throughout this AOC.
This information will provide a two-pronged approach to understanding the effects of contaminants on wildlife in this AOC and will allow informed decisions regarding the removal of two BUIs:
- Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems
- Degradation of Fish and Wildlife Populations
Additionally, these efforts build on a long-term state-wide bald eagle flight survey started in 1961 and monitoring of contaminants in eagle chicks that began in 1987.
|
Project Title |
Project Description |
Date Completed |
Targeted BUI(s) |
|
Tributary water quality data collection |
This project will provide support for a comprehensive Saginaw River and Bay water quality monitoring plan. The plan focuses on sampling several tributary mouths within the watershed. |
Ongoing |
• Eutrophication or Undesirable Algae |
|
Assessment of population, reproductive and health impairments in colonial water birds breeding in Michigan’s AOCs |
The project is investigating population effects associated with contaminants in fish eating birds by assessing breeding numbers and reproductive rates in the Saginaw River and Bay AOC. |
Ongoing |
• Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems • Degradation of Fish & Wildlife Populations |
|
Analysis of Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Herring Gull Eggs in the Great Lakes |
This project will analyze a representative sub-sample or aliquot of archived herring gull egg composites from selected colonies sampled in the U.S. since the inception of herring gull egg collection in the U.S. |
Ongoing |
• Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems • Degradation of Fish & Wildlife Populations |
|
Assessment of the Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems BUI in Michigan's Great Lakes AOCs |
This project is assessing existing data, including conducting a literature review, and determining if fish tissue contaminant levels are protective of wildlife in consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contaminants specialists. |
Ongoing |
• Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems • Degradation of Fish & Wildlife Populations |
|
Saginaw Bay Microbial Source Tracking Project |
This project will identify locations and sources of fecal contamination that negatively impact Saginaw Bay, especially at locations that the public uses for recreational purposes. Once sources are located and identified, the information will be given to necessary agencies so that appropriate remedial measures can be taken to eliminate those sources, restore the beneficial use, and ultimately keep the beaches safe and open. |
Ongoing |
• Beach Closings |
|
Restoring River Connectivity: Evaluating Fish as Vectors of Contaminants in the Saginaw River/Bay |
This project evaluated the level of contaminants present in fish species above and below the Frankenmuth dam to determine the impact reestablishment of a fishery will have in the reconnected river section above the dam. |
2017 |
• Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproduction Problems • Degradation of Fish & Wildlife Populations |