Assessment

* A Past View of Resources in the Lahontan Region

*Deer Creek Watershed Conservancy

* Watershed Risk Assessment

* MERCURY CONTAMINATION

Strategies for Improving Watersheds and Aquatic Biodiversity

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Anthropogenic mercury is present in the aquatic biota throughout the historic Sierra Nevada gold region. Higher mercury regions include the highest densities of active dredging operations, which also correspond to the greatest historical mining. Bioavailable mercury shows amplification through the food chain. Although the absolute concentrations in rainbow trout presently are well below existing health standards, fish from some reservoirs in this region have markedly higher mercury than those in upstream rivers.

D. G. Slotton, S. M. Ayers, J. E. Reuter, and C. R. Goldman, Technical Completion Report (Davis: University of California Water Resources Center, 1995)