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National Marine Fisheries Service Environmental Field Station located on the lowerColumbia River, Oregon, where bioassay of fire retardants using salmon and troutwas conducted.

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Robert L. Borovicka FROM FILE

A series of widely scattered fishkills in several states prompted re-source managers to study the ef-fects of various fire retardants onaquatic environments. As a result ofthese studies, preliminary guide-lines for protection of aquatic lifewhen using chemical fire retardants'have been established.

The use of chemical fire retar-dants to help control forest fires hasbecome a wide-spread practice withsome 15 to 20 million gallons usedannually in the United States.

A team of scientists and naturalresource managers met in Portland,Oregon, in December 1970 to dis-cuss and analyze the problem. Thiswas a multi-agency team with na-tional and international resourcemanagement goals. Committeemembers were from the Bureau ofLand Management, U.S. ForestService, and the Bureau of SportFisheries and Wildlife. The commit-tee solved problems and developedprocedures and guidelines based onlaboratory and field research.

Robert L. Borovicka, BLM, Port-land, Oregon, is chairman of an in-teragency committee studying theeffects of fire retardants on the en-vironment. Other members of thecommittee are: Jack F. Wilson,BLM, Boise Interagency FireCenter, Boise, Idaho; Mike Bow-man, BLM, Washington, D.C.;Logan Norris, USFS, Missoula,Montana; Clifford Bosley,BSF&W; Portland, Oregon.

Basic Research: A Critical NeedDuring the initial meeting it was

decided to form an interagencygroup that would explore existingand needed research concerning theimpact of fire retardants on the en-vironment. A program was pro-posed that included study into theeffects of retardants on aquatic or-ganisms, water quality, soil andvegetation, wildlife, livestock, andpublic health.

Initial research was to be aimed atdetermining toxicity of retardantsto fish and other aquatic organisms.The studies were to be of standard

design to determine toxicity of themost widely used retardants to avariety of aquatic animals by bioas-say procedures. The basic composi-tion of retardants indicated , highlevels of ammonia and this factorprovided a clue to the relative toxic-ity to aquatic animals.

Major manufacturers of retar-dants were contacted and theyagreed to cooperate by providingseveral formulations and technicalinformation to researchers. Themanufacturers have been extremelyhelpful throughout the bioassaystudy.

20 FIRE MANAGEMENT /CZ-, A.;e), SvP?/?-ice /97X

Tanks used to conduct bioassay of fire retardants with trout and salmon at NationalMarine Fisheries Service Environmental Field Station on the lower Columbia River,Oregon.

Anencies' Help EnlistedPreliminary testing of retardants

was provided by the Fish Toxicol-ogy Laboratory of the Environmen-tal Protection Agency at Corvallis,Oregon. The Bureau of Land Man-agement negotiated a contract in1971 with the National MarineFisheries Service, an agency of theNational Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration. The NorthwestFisheries Center of NMFS selectedthe Environmental Field Station lo-cated on the Columbia River at Pre-scott, Oregon, to conduct a detailedbioassay of retardant effects onCoho salmon and rainbow trout.

The Director of the Fish PesticideLaboratory at Columbia, Missouri(Bureau of Sport Fisheries andWildlife), agreed to conduct staticand "flow-through" bioassay withother aquatic forms such as plank-ton, larger crustaceans, eggs, andsac fry of fish and warm water fishsuch as bluegills.

The U.S. Forest Service, PacificNorthwest Forest and Rave Ex-periment Station, is studying themovement of retardants into streamsystems and their impact onstreambottom organisms in Ore-gon, Idaho, and California.

Retardant:: Can Be ToxicThe final bioassay laboratory re-

ports are now complete and as aresult certain guidelines for usingretardants near aquatic habitatshave been sent to the field. The in-

formation received from thelaboratories indicates that chemicalfire retardants can he toxic to fishand other organisms when presentin heavy concentrations in theiraquatic environment.

Ammonia is the component of re-tardants causing the problem. Allretardants contain ammonia and aretherefore potential toxic agents.

The U.S. Forest Service study onfield application will not be com-

plete until 1975. In the interim,however, the following guidelinesand precautions should be followedto minimize the entry of chemicalsinto streams when using fire retar-dants in or near areas which includeimportant living aquatic resources.

GuidelinesInform field personnel (fire per-sonnel, lead plane pilots, air-tanker pilots, etc.) of the poten-tial problem of fire retardants instreams or lakes.Locate retardant mixing andlo!tding points where naturalwater contact is minimal.Exercise care in prevention ofaccidental or careless spills atmixing, loading, and assemblyareas, especially near livestreams.Exercise particular caution whenusing retardants in watershedswhere fish hatcheries are lo-cated.Avoid direct drops of retardantsinto rivers, streams, lakes oralong lakeshores. Use alterna-tive methods of fire line building

(ground crews, helitankers,ground tankers, dozers).Notify proper authoritiespromptly if a fish kill is observedin retardant use areas.

7. Include these precautionarymeasures in training fire person-nel.

SUMMER 1974 21