- Success Stories, Uncategorized
- Environmental Resource Assessment & Management
Celebrating 40 Years of Monitoring Coastal Health
Since 1986, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Mussel Watch Program has been monitoring and documenting chemical contaminants in coastal waters using bivalves. Used for their ability to filter water and retain contaminants within their tissues, bivalves help quantify the presence of chemical contaminants within the waters in which they reside. The Mussel Watch Program has used this information to establish long-term baseline contaminant levels and track trends over the past 40 years.
Upon its inception, the program started with monitoring approximately 145 sites. Within these 40 years, the Mussel Watch Program built a network of regional and local partners, which has enabled the program to grow, expanding to additional collection sites to 425 in the Pacific, Atlantic, Gulf of America, and the Great Lakes. The program originally focused on legacy contaminants like DDT and PCBs and has increased the screening list to over 600 contaminants, including PFAS – forever chemicals found in items such as fire retardants, food wrappers, nonstick cookware, and other everyday items.
Through our contract with NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, CSS has supported this effort for many years, providing administrative, logistical, on-the-ground collection support, and writing technical reports summarizing their findings following the completion of the contaminant analysis for each region.
CSS employee owners are responsible for devising the yearly collection schedule, organizing missions, establishing local partnerships, shipping materials to each site, and writing reports to summarize the regional findings. This is a massive undertaking that requires strategic planning and organization – one that has ensured the Mussel Watch Program continued to operate efficiently and effectively.
Learn more about NOAA’s National Mussel Watch Program and the contributions of CSS employee owners.
See More CSS Insights
Advanced Planning for Hardware Retirements
NOAA relies on orbiting satellites to collect data for Climate Data Records (CDR). However, these satellites degrade over time and can be at risk of failing. Degradation or failure of critical space instruments can cause interruptions in Earth’s climate system data, disrupting the ongoing record collection. In support of NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, CSS program manager for CDR proactively managed product transitions that…
Supervisory Support for 2025 Southern California Wildfires Response Efforts
Long after wildfires are extinguished, ongoing efforts continue to assess long-term damage and contamination. CSS employee owners are often heavily involved in these efforts and follow up to ensure response operations do not impact the environment. Response efforts in South California continued throughout the year following the 2025 wildfires that devastated the Los Angeles area. CSS continued to support the damage assessment through a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency…
Conducting Greenhouse Soil Tests for Soil Remediation Recommendations
There are thousands of abandoned mines in the Western United States and residual heavy metal concentrations can be high in mine spoils. These spoils can also be quite acidic. Acidic soils with high concentrations of heavy metals can significantly impact the re-establishment and growth of native plant species at these sites. Even after removal of soils with the…