Title
Land Reclamation Evaluation System for Anaconda Smelter Superfund Site
Abstract
The Anaconda Regional Water, Waste, and Soils Operable Unit (ARWW&S OU) covers about 300 square miles in the southern Deer Lodge Valley and the surrounding foothills in southwestern Montana, and is part of the Clark Fork River watershed. This OU is included in the Anaconda Smelter Superfund Site and contains large volumes of wastes, debris, and contaminated soils from the processing of ores to recover metals, chiefly copper. These milling, smelting, and refining activities continued for a period of 96 years, from 1884 until 1980.
In 1998, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality identified land reclamation as the general remedial action for major portions of the Operable Unit (OU). Recognizing that the intensity of land reclamation is a technology continuum and parallels the continuum of ecological function within the OU, a distinct scientific approach was required to evaluate field conditions and then select the appropriate level of reclamation intensity. The Land Reclamation Evaluation System (LRES) was developed to fill this need. This decision-making tool contains several components: 1) a description of potential human and ecological risk, followed by an assessment of the nine National Contingency Plan criteria; 2) a quantitative scoring system for the existing vegetation communities and the potential for COC transport; 3) an identification of modifying factors that may play significant roles in determining the level and extent of land remediation; and 4) decision diagrams to help guide the decision makers in identifying remedial actions and levels of reclamation intensity. The LRES has been applied to significant areas within the OU and preliminary remedial units have been delineated and assigned remedial actions. Additional data and LRES quantitative scores for extensive acreage were generated in 1999 to support remedial designs.
This poster describes the LRES, remedial action triggers, selection of land reclamation remedial actions and their definitions, and post-reclamation criteria for growth media and vegetation.
Start Date
14-4-2000 12:00 AM
End Date
14-4-2000 12:00 AM
Document Type
Poster
Land Reclamation Evaluation System for Anaconda Smelter Superfund Site
The Anaconda Regional Water, Waste, and Soils Operable Unit (ARWW&S OU) covers about 300 square miles in the southern Deer Lodge Valley and the surrounding foothills in southwestern Montana, and is part of the Clark Fork River watershed. This OU is included in the Anaconda Smelter Superfund Site and contains large volumes of wastes, debris, and contaminated soils from the processing of ores to recover metals, chiefly copper. These milling, smelting, and refining activities continued for a period of 96 years, from 1884 until 1980.
In 1998, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality identified land reclamation as the general remedial action for major portions of the Operable Unit (OU). Recognizing that the intensity of land reclamation is a technology continuum and parallels the continuum of ecological function within the OU, a distinct scientific approach was required to evaluate field conditions and then select the appropriate level of reclamation intensity. The Land Reclamation Evaluation System (LRES) was developed to fill this need. This decision-making tool contains several components: 1) a description of potential human and ecological risk, followed by an assessment of the nine National Contingency Plan criteria; 2) a quantitative scoring system for the existing vegetation communities and the potential for COC transport; 3) an identification of modifying factors that may play significant roles in determining the level and extent of land remediation; and 4) decision diagrams to help guide the decision makers in identifying remedial actions and levels of reclamation intensity. The LRES has been applied to significant areas within the OU and preliminary remedial units have been delineated and assigned remedial actions. Additional data and LRES quantitative scores for extensive acreage were generated in 1999 to support remedial designs.
This poster describes the LRES, remedial action triggers, selection of land reclamation remedial actions and their definitions, and post-reclamation criteria for growth media and vegetation.