ABSTRACT
Environmental protection agency (EPAs) ban of most organochlorine pesticides, the enormous historic use of these pesticides, coupled with their tendency to persist in the environment has resulted in continued environmental harm. Pesticides that were banned years ago can still be found on farms, in warehouses, and in garages throughout the US. Another long-term concern with persistent organochlorine pesticides is that pesticides that are bound in soils may become biologically available when the soil is disturbed or where an area becomes intentionally or unintentionally flooded with water. The most dramatic example of this occurred in 1998 when a massive bird die-off occurred on farmlands that had been rehydrated to their prior wetland state on lands adjacent to Lake Apopka in Florida. The rookery site purchased by the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) is an 8,465-acre property that contains approximately 150 wood-stork nests, making it the second largest breeding colony of wood storks in northeast Florida.
