Lead (and explosives) contamination of soil is a common problem at military
cleanup sites where target practice has occurred. I don't know about
leaching into streams and lakes (I wouldn't expect lead shot to be as
leachable as other forms of environmental lead) but it does get *eaten* by
animals accidentally and birds and other animals that have been shot but
lived are eaten by others higher up the food chain and can cause poisoning.
Teresa Michelsen tmic461 at ecy.wa. gov
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From: owner-tweeters
To: tweeters
Subject: Re: Avoiding militia-birder encounters
Date: Sat, Apr 29, 1995 8:18AM

I wonder what the potential for lead contamination and leaching into streams
and lakes is from these kinds of activities. I know that shotgun shot has
been a focus of attention, study, and (some?) regulation in this regard,
but what about other type of shot? Is this amount of lead just background
noise, or is it potentially seriously cumulative and dangerous? The
occasional bullet in the woods shot during a hunt is one thing perhaps,
but concentrated, intense target shooting could produce a substantial
pile of lead, and depending on where the shot landed, ....
Peter

>Date: Fri, 28 Apr 1995 23:08:56 -0400 (EDT)
>From: STEPNIEWSKI at delphi.com

>Tweeters, The Umptanum Creek area in the Yakima Cyn is now full of weekend
>target practise folks ...

>shooting clay pigeons...