Toxicity of wildland fire retardants to rainbow trout in short exposures

Holly J. Puglis; Michael G. Iacchetta

doi:10.1002/etc.5791

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Toxicity of wildland fire retardants to rainbow trout in short exposures

Holly J. Puglis·Michael G. Iacchetta

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Abstract

Long-term wildland fire retardants are one important tool used to control and suppress wildfires. During suppression activities, these retardants may enter waterbodies; thus, there is a need to understand their potential effects to aquatic biota. We investigated the effect of three current-use wildland fire retardants to juvenile rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss) survival in short exposures more realistic to actual intrusion scenarios. Lethal effect concentrations decreased with time and varied among chemicals (LC95A-R > 259-Fx > MVP-Fx). The lowest effect concentrations observed were 2 to 10 times above the threshold used by federal agencies to assess potential impacts to aquatic organisms following a retardant intrusion. These data can be used by resource managers to balance wildfire control with potential environmental impacts of retardant use.

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Holly J. Puglis, Michael G. Iacchetta. 2023-11-17. Toxicity of wildland fire retardants to rainbow trout in short exposures. https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.5791

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