NEWLY UPDATED! — This document contains summaries of four studies conducted by The Sierra Fund to learn about the environmental health exposure potential associated with abandoned mines in the Sierra Nevada, and a pilot health outreach program to bring these findings to Sierra communities.
Read Morearsenic
The Sierra Fund is proud to release a new report detailing activities, results, and lessons learned from a year-long pilot outreach program in four Sierra communities. The short term goals of this program were to prevent and reduce exposure to mercury from locally caught fish in Sierra communities, and to raise awareness about mercury in the fish and other mine-related toxins, among community members, leaders, and healthcare providers. The long term goal is to build a movement to clean up sources of legacy mining pollution in the Sierra.
Read More
The Sierra Fund’s partners at USGS are hosting a short technical course on arsenic in Nevada City on June 15-16, 2014. This course is being conducted in conjunction with the prestigious Goldschmidt 2014 conference.
Read More
Conference proceedings and follow up materials from Reclaiming the Sierra 2012: Green $olutions to Abandoned Mines, including PowerPoint presentations, notes, and much more! Click here for conference program Click here for conference abstracts
Read More
The physical dangers to recreationists at abandoned mine sites are well known, but the hazards associated with exposure to heavy metals in dust at abandoned mine sites are not well understood. This pilot study identified contaminants of concern (COC) at popular recreation areas around Downieville, Nevada City, and Foresthill, CA.
Read More
This brochure covers precautionary measures to take when recreating around legacy mine sites, where there is potential heavy metals in dust. The brochure was created as a follow up to The Sierra Fund’s two studies on human exposure to legacy mining toxins.
Read More
Nearly every form of government in the historic mining regions of California experiences some sort of impact from legacy mining. This document summarizes the key issues that confront local government officials with legacy mining in their jurisdiction, and provides an outline for how to meet the ongoing challenges they face.
Read More
The Sierra Fund created this document to summarize the key issues that confront nonprofit organizations facing legacy mining issues in their communities. The Primer answers three key questions: What are the modern-day effects of historic mining in the Sierra Nevada? Why do nonprofit organizations need to be aware of these impacts? What can nonprofits do to respond to legacy mining hazards in their communities?
Read More