Richard Honour

Richard Honour

May 06, 2015

Group 6 Copy 88
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Recovery Is Slow, If At All

Once a forest has been devastated by toxic sewage sludge, recovery can be slow. In this case, the sludge was disposed in June/July of 2014, about 10 months ago. Many life forms remain in recovery.

Recovery is slow, and the wetlands are not as noisy with frogs and birds, as is the case in adjacent, non-sludged areas.

The sludge was discarded right up to the edge of the sensitive wetlands. With the torrential rains experienced this past Fall and Winter, and again this Spring, gravity rules and the waters from the sludged forests flow to the wetlands and streams.

Some frogs and toads were observed a month or so ago; their recovery appears measured.

Most of the understory plants are having difficulty sprouting, and some of the mosses and ferns do not yet show signs of life.

The odor is difficult to tolerate. Dead snails and veggie labels cover the ground.

The Pacific Tree Frog (Pseudacris regilla) is low in numbers, perhaps because they are dining on insects hatched in sewage sludge. In any case, they are slow to move.

We came back to this sludged forest today to collect a few samples of our forest mushrooms-of-interest, and as expected, the only fungi to be observed are those we confirmed as being tolerant of toxic sewage sludge.

The Pacific Tree Frog (Pseudacris regilla)

Deep sludge in the forest, adjacent to a wetlands.

A toxin-tolerant fungus on a bed of moss over a layer of sewage sludge.

A second toxin-tolerant fungus.

A third toxin-tolerant fungus - on toxic sewage sludge.

The collateral kill of local forest-dwelling snails, just along for the ride.

Snails on sludge

And on again ...

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About This Project

The Precautionary Group

We've discovered a few new mushrooms thriving in this harsh environment of land-disposed sewage sludge in Snoqualmie, Washington. We're testing these mushrooms for new antimicrobial properties. Microbes that survive exposure to toxic sewage sludge engage adaptive mechanisms that transform toxins into secondary metabolites.

Blast off!

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