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A general framework for ecological risk assessment was developed during the 1990s for use at industrial sites contaminated with toxicants. The framework helps scientists and managers organize complex, multidisciplinary information, identify data gaps, and develop estimates of risk to fish and wildlife from exposures to toxicants. The organizational framework provided by this method can also be applied to evaluate hazards other than toxic chemicals. 10,000 Years Institute is pioneering the application of the general risk assessment methods to non-toxicant hazards such as habitat loss, introduction of non-native or genetically modified organisms, or mechanical devices.
For one project, we used the ecological risk assessment framework to structure a risk model that analyzes population-level mortality to fish as they migrate in rivers with mechanical passage systems. Fish that must migrate through hydropower projects traverse numerous machines and man-made environments. Because cumulative mortality within a fish passage system undermines the long-term success of the population, controlling mortality at key points in the passage system is the best means to a cost-effective and successful restoration program. 10,000 Years Institute, in partnership with Steward and Associates, American Rivers and the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, developed a quantitative risk model to estimate cumulative mortalities of passage systems, allowing piecemeal evaluation of passage systems to determine the most cost effective approach to anadromous fish passage. Read a summary of our comparative risk model.
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