Lead Ammunition No Longer OK in National Parks

"Our goal is to eliminate the use of lead ammunition and lead fishing tackle in parks by the end of 2010," Acting National Park Service Director Dan Wenk said today. "We want to take a leadership role in removing lead from the environment."

The new lead reduction efforts include changes in the activities of National Park Service staff, such as culling operations or the dispatching of wounded or sick animals.

Rangers and resource managers will use non-lead ammunition to prevent environmental contamination as well as lead poisoning of scavenger species that may feed upon the carcasses.

Non-toxic substitutes for lead ammunition made in the United States are now widely available, including tungsten, copper, and steel, says Wenk.

Lead is an environmental contaminant affecting many areas of the world, including U.S. national parks.

The National Park Service will develop educational materials to increase awareness about the consequences of lead exposure and the benefits of using lead-free ammunition and fishing tackle.

Some hunters just want to be left alone to use lead ammunition as they have for years. One anonymous commenter on a hunting and fishing site wrote, "The greenies use the toxic lead issue as a club to beat up sportsmen. Maybe they'll start a Dept. of Homeland Lead Elimination."

But across the United States, there is an accelerating trend to expand efforts to reduce lead contamination associated with firearms and hunting. California and Arizona have recently implemented mandatory and voluntary bans, respectively, on lead ammunition to facilitate California condor recovery.

A California condor spreads its wings over the Grand Canyon. (Photo credit unknown)

Condors are the largest North American land birds - their wingspan can exceed nine feet. Condors mate for life and can live to be 80 years old. In 1800, condors ranged from Baja California to British Columbia, Canada.

Endangered for nearly 40 years, condors were removed from the wild in 1987 to reestablish the species through captive breeding.

Condors are being reintroduced into the wild at Grand Canyon National Park and Vermilion Cliffs in Arizona and at Pinnacles National Monument and on the Big Sur coast in California.

Currently, there are 215 condors, 126 in captivity and 89 in the wild - 49 in Arizona and 40 in California.

They are recaptured once or twice each year to make sure they are not suffering from lead poisoning, one of two mortality factors hindering their progress.

The birds feed on carcasses of large animals such as deer, cattle and sea mammals and sometimes ingest lead shot. Educating hunters on the threat lead poses and encouraging them to use unleaded ammunition is a critical part of the condor recovery program's success.

Resource managers recognize that hunting and fishing play an historical role in the complicated and intensive management of wildlife populations, says Wenk. Because of this history, these activities continue in some parks and, in some cases, even enhance the park’s primary purpose to preserve natural environments and native species, Wenk says.

"The reduction and eventual removal of lead on park service lands will benefit humans, wildlife, and ecosystems inside and outside park boundaries and continue our legacy of resource stewardship," he said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has banned lead sinkers in two national wildlife refuges and Yellowstone National Park. Restrictions have been discussed on the use of lead sinkers and jigs at other national wildlife refuges where loons and trumpeter swans breed.

New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and New York have banned the use and sale of small lead fishing sinkers.

In June 2000, the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board voted to prohibit the use of all lead sinkers for the taking of fish in Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs, the two bodies of water that support the core of that state's loon population.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2009. All rights reserved.