Summary

Description

Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge is an overlay on the Corps of Engineers John Redmond Reservoir in eastcentral Kansas. The Refuge is managed to provide spring and fall habitat and food for migrating shorebirds and waterfowl. Water from the Neosho River, which supplies John Redmond Reservoir, is of fair quality. Contaminants in it are largely from offsite and diverse agricultural areas as well as oil production and storage facilities in the northern portion of the watershed. In addition, several pipelines cross the north side of the Refuge. Thus, contaminants can enter the Refuge through the surface water, and accumulate in sediments and migratory bird foods within the Refuge impoundments. Although managers of FHNWR suspect agricultural chemicals may be present inthe water entering the Refuge, the water has not previously been tested for contaminants. The purpose of this project was to evaluate agriculture and oilrelated contaminant inputs to the Refuge and develop a GIS database for management use. The studys sampling design was not intensive, and therefore is not a conclusive evaluation of contaminant sources and loads into FHNWR. However, the data can be a useful screen for future investigations. Waterborne concentrations of atrazine, 2,4D, and alachlor compounds were found in surface waters entering FHNWR in 1997. In 1999, only one site had a detection of any pesticide compound. Low concentrations of aliphatic hydrocarbons and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were infrequently detected in sediments and benthic invertebrates. Only one organochlorine contaminant dicamba was detected and that was found in only one sample. A major limitation to this study includes the lack of repeat sampling within a time period. Also, we were unable to precisely time sampling with precipitation events. We mostly likely did not detect the maximum concentrations that occurred during a sampling period. Therefore, our data probably do not represent the full range or duration of pesticide loadings to FHNWR.