Western United States
CALIFORNIA
Fish Tissue and Aquatic Macro-invertebrate
Sampling Former Blue Ledge Mine
Joe Creek Watershed, California
ETG has been contracted by Engineering/Remediation Resources Group, Inc. (ERRG) to provide annual fish tissue and aquatic macro-invertebrate sampling for the former Blue Ledge Mine remediation project. The site is former mine that operated from approximately 1904 to 1930. The site that lies on steep hill slopes at the upper headwaters of the Joe Creek watershed, which feeds a tributary of the Applegate River. Sulfide-rich waste rock, which was discarded from the mine adits, lay on the hill slopes and drainages below the adits. As the waste rock eroded over time, the rock leached acidity and metals into Joe Creek and Elliot Creek. To address the problem, the United States Forest Service completed a remedial action from June 2010 through October 2011 to remove waste rock from the area and place the rock in a lined repository on site. The sampling is being completed to evaluate remedial action performance. The scope of work includes: procurement of an Scientific Collecting Permit from the California Department of Fish and Game, collection of aquatic macro-invertebrate kick samples by a fish biologist from five separate locations, collection of fish tissue samples from four separate location with an electrofisher, submittal of samples to the analytical laboratory, and documentation of sampling activities with field notes and photographs.
