Torch Lake Superfund Site

For 100 years the area around Torch Lake was the site of milling and smelting facilities.  The copper was extracted by crushing or 'stamping' the rock into smaller pieces, grinding the pieces and driving them through successively smaller meshes.  The contamination resulted from previous copper mining processes that left mine tailings, or stamp sands as a waste product.  The stamp sands were usually discarded with the mill processing water in the form of slurry after the copper was extracted.  Over 200 million tons of tailings were dumped into Torch Lake.

The following table (the table will be posted soon) lists the dominant woody plant species found growing on soil contaminated with copper (ppm).

LA-Davidson Site

The site is less than 80 acres, located in Saginaw County, Michigan.  Several factories once occupied this land, a former plate glass manufacturing plant, a former salt plant, and two brine chemical plants.  High levels of chlorides and arsenic are found in the aquifer.

The following table (the table will be posted soon) lists the dominant woddy plant species found growing on soil contaminated with different metal pollutants (ppm).

Winchester Site

The Winchester Disposal site is a former unlicensed landfill located in Port Huron, Michigan.  The disposal of municipal, industrial, and other wastes at the Winchester Disposal site, coupled with site fires, has resulted in the release of contamination, especially heavy metals to the soil, groundwater, and wetlands in the area.

The following table (the table will be posted soon) lists the dominant woody plant species found growing on contaminated soil at the site and metal pollutant levels (ppm).