River Wildlife Project

The Michigan State University Aquatic Toxicology Laboratory began a five-year wildlife study throughout the Tittabawassee River floodplain in the fall of 2003 to assess the possible effects of dioxin and furan exposure from the environment.

Our team has spent countless hours in the field working with such wildlife species as American mink, great horned owls, eastern bluebirds, great blue herons, American robins, wood ducks, kingfishers, hooded mergansers, tree swallows, and house wrens.

We utilize multiple lines of evidence to assess the effects of dioxin and furan exposure. Dietary item samples of each species are collected to assess potential exposure from the food chain. Tissue sampling, including eggs and plasma, is ongoing to assess the actual concentrations in the study species. Finally, productivity measurements, including hatch success and abundance, reflect the population health of the study species.

Dietary items, tissue samples, and productivity measurements have been collected from the Tittabawassee River floodplain from areas upstream of Midland, Michigan, in Sanford, Michigan, and from the Pine and Chippewa rivers from the Chippewa Nature Center. Sampling areas downstream of Midland, Michigan, include Freeland Festival Park, Imerman Park, and the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge.

This site is designed to provide residents, landowners, and stakeholders with information regarding our research, which is made possible by the cooperation of numerous landowners throughout the floodplain, to whom we are very grateful.