Local Fox News reportsGun enthusiasts of the early 20th century riddled the La Crosse River marsh with lead. And decades after the last trap shoot, traces of the toxic metal remain.What's your opinion? The gun-rights fanatics will always downplay the importance of this and the possible consequences of lead contamination. Some of them deny it outright.
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse researchers have found high lead levels in the sediment where La Crosse Gun Club members frequently shot skeet.
New samples taken this summer will help determine if lead is spreading from the marsh bed and threatening surrounding wildlife. Lead can be absorbed by nearby vegetation and travel up the food chain, causing neurological and developmental problems in fish.
Whether it's a meter down in the muck or on the surface of the marsh bed, the lead is there, UW-L researchers say. Hundreds of sediment samples taken last year show varying degrees of lead contamination throughout the marsh. Belby declined to provide the exact numbers, but initial tests last year revealed levels of up to 1,200 parts per million - the maximum amount allowed in bare soil, and three times the legal limit for soil in areas with playing children.
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