B--TO EVALUATE CUMMULATIVE CONCENTRATIONS OF PESTICIDES USED IN MOSQUITO ABATEMENT.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service intends to award a contract to the San Jose State University Foundation in collaboration with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the University of California, Davis. The project aims to assess the cumulative impact of repeated mosquito adulticide applications on water quality and invertebrate populations in wetland environments. The study will focus on three wetland cells at the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, which receive frequent adulticide treatments, and compare them with three similar untreated wetland cells at Delevan National Wildlife Refuge, matched closely by vegetation, flooding timing, and water depth. Water and sediment samples will be collected initially to determine baseline contamination levels in source water at these sites. San Jose State University Foundation's involvement is critical, as they have previously participated in this project and have access to unique sample collections not available from other entities. The contract is not open to competitive bidding, but interested vendors have a seven-day window to respond to the announcement. The contract, titled "B--TO EVALUATE CUMMULATIVE CONCENTRATIONS OF PESTICIDES USED IN MOSQUITO ABATEMENT," was posted in August 2004 and falls under the Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service headquarters, based in Falls Church, Virginia.