Arsenic committee calls for samples
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (May 25/01) - Got a frozen snowshoe hare you can spare?
That is a question the Yellowknife Arsenic Soils Remediation Comma committee charged with developing guidelines for cleaning up mines in the Yellowknife area is putting to all residents.
"We're trying to collect country food samples from the Yellowknife area, specifically ptarmigan, grouse and snowshoe hare," said committee spokesperson Brad Colpitts.
Colpitts said the animals must have been harvested over the past winter, since the Giant mine roaster was shut down.
"We don't need a ton, but we need several of each," Colpitts said.
The samples will be used to determine how much of the arsenic dust emanating from the mines has entered the systems of the animals.
The three species were selected because, unlike caribou, they have fairly small ranges. Colpitts said ideally, samples will have been harvested along the Vee Lake area or along the Dettah road.
Grouse and ptarmigan use gravel as part of their digestion processes.
"That will be part of the equation that's factored into the human health risk assessment," Colpitts said.
If you have a rabbit, ptarmigan or snowshoe hare you can contribute, contact Colpitts at 669-8979.
The committee issued the call at a public meeting earlier this month to update residents on the work it has done since being created two years ago.
