Caribou Clean Water Partnership

WHY SELENIUM IS A THREAT

SELENIUM CAN BE HIGHLY TOXIC
Selenium in trace amounts is a tolerable mineral for many mammals. At higher concentrations, selenium can trigger serious toxic effects in fish, livestock, wildlife and humans. These effects include massive reproductive failure, severe deformations both at birth and in adults, and even death.

SELENIUM DOESN'T GO AWAY
Once released to our land and water, toxic levels of selenium persist for hundreds of years, threatening the health and prosperity of future generations.

SELENIUM ACCUMULATES
Selenium builds up in the food chain with increasing concentrations in plants, fish and animals - including trout, deer, and elk that are eaten by local hunters and anglers and their families.

Click Here to watch a movie on selenium (quicktime format 16 MB 6.5 minutes in length)

SELENIUM IS A THREAT TO CHILDREN

WARNINGS POSTED FOR ANGLERS
In 2002 the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare began posting warnings around East Mill Creek area within Caribou Country. These warnings cautioned against children eating fish caught in the stream due to elevated levels of selenium leaking from the nearby North Maybe Canyon phosphate mine.

HUNTERS ALSO WARNED
In 2006 the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare warned hunters not to eat livers from elk harvested near any of the phosphate mines. The liver is the first place selenium concentrates when elk eat contaminated forage and drink poisoned water, but it then spreads throughout the tissues and muscles.

MANY LIVESTOCK HAVE ALREADY DIED

GRAZING SHEEP DIE
In the recent past, several hundred sheep have been killed from grazing and drinking near phosphate mines. One occurrence happened as the sheep grazed a hillside that had been replanted with alfalfa by the mine and deemed suitable for grazing. To date, over 500 documented sheep deaths have occurred as well as others not reported.

HORSES AND CATTLE AT RISK
So far six horses have had to be put down after eating selenium-laced plants and drinking selenium poisoned water. Cattle show mutataions of soft and deformed hooves, and beef contaminated with high levels of selenium is not accepted by the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

WILDLIFE SHOW SELENIUM EFFECTS

IDAHO STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH
A recent study by scientists at ISU shows that remaining Yellowstone cutthroat trout populations face a high risk of decline due to selenium.

"Our model shows that selenium concentrations in the Blackfoot and Salt River watersheds are high enough to cause observable declines in cutthroat trout populations in some streams. Selenium concentration has essentially eliminated trout from East Mill Creek... and other populations we have not monitored may have already declined." --Dr. Van Kirk

BIRDS AND SALAMANDERS The highest levels of selenium pollution ever recorded in birds and eggs were found in Caribou Country, along with massive salamander die-offs.

LESSONS FROM KESTERSON

HISTORY TO BE REPEATED?
In the 1980s, scientists at the Kesterson Wildlife Refuge in California discovered massive fish kills and tens of thousands of dead birds from a gradual buildup of selenium. Test samples show average selenium concentrations in Idaho are fifteen times higher than those of California.
Like Kesterson, selenium poisoning in Caribou Country is slowly building up in local streams, aquifers, and plants. A senior government research scientist warned the people who live around phosphate mining in the Caribou National Forest:

"This ecosystem is a tinder box, and allowing additional selenium discharges will likely start a cascade of irreversible events, culminating in severe toxic impacts to fish and aquatic life for many years to come."