An ecological risk assessment was performed for California's Central Valley to rank the relative risk potential for pesticides to impact threatened or endangered species. The study utilized monitoring data, simulation modeling, and GIS to address the temporal and spatial co-occurrence of forty widely-used herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides to twelve aquatic and semi-aquatic species, including several species of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), Central Valley steelhead (O. mykiss) , southern North American green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris), Delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus), striped bass (Morone saxatilis), San Francisco longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys), threadfin shad (Dorosoma petenense), California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii), and the California freshwater shrimp. Results are being used to improve decision making and to optimize resource spending across a number of federal, state, and regional water quality programs. The results can be used to identify and to rank areas of highest risk, to aid in placement of BMPs, and to support current and future monitoring programs, specifically strategic placement of sampling locations and frequency.

Prioritizing research and regulatory initiatives to minimize pesticide impacts on threatened and endangered species in California's Central Valley

242nd National Meeting (2011)

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