Growing the Value and Impact 

of the Dragonfly Mercury 

Project: A Prospectus
ii

December 2020
iii

Contents

Executive Summary ...........................................................................................................v

Mercury: A global pollutant that harms economies, human health, and wildlife.............1

The Dragonfly Mercury Project: Informing resource management, 

protecting public health, and engaging the public in science ...........................................5

Demonstrated value for risk assessment and public engagement....................................9

Growing the Dragonfly Mercury Project will increase its ability 

to address critical needs for managers and the public....................................................12

You can help grow the Dragonfly Mercury Project 

to benefit managers and the public ................................................................................13

Appendix A. Growth Implementation Team....................................................................14

Literature Cited................................................................................................................15

Resources........................................................................................................................16
iv
v

Severe impairment

Sub-impairment

This prospectus describes the vision, mission, and goals of the Dragonfly Mercury Project, a multi-institutional community and 

citizen science-driven effort, developed by the U.S. National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey to inform, educate, and 

forecast exposure and health risks associated with environmental mercury contamination across the United States. The intent of 

the prospectus is to inform the leadership of partner agencies about the design and accomplishments of the Dragonfly Mercury 

Project and growth opportunities for achieving goals central to the missions of resource management and environmental protection 

agencies, including: 

Developing risk forecasting models to identify safer water bodies for fishing and those that pose health 

risks to people and wildlife;

Informing management techniques and tools that could reduce mercury risk; 

Assessing the effectiveness of domestic and international efforts to reduce mercury in the environment;

Engaging and enhancing learning of community and citizen scientists, and the public; and 

Communicating the importance and understanding of mercury issues for a variety of audiences. 

Mercury is among the most globally pervasive environmental contaminants, harming the health of people and wildlife across the 

United States and abroad. Because it is transmitted through the air, mercury contamination can impact even remote and protected 

lands. The Dragonfly Mercury Project has developed a national-scale citizen science monitoring network that uses mercury 

concentrations in dragonfly larvae to understand and forecast health risks for wildlife and humans. Dragonfly larvae are ideal mercury 

biosentinels because they are ubiquitous across ecosystem types, are easy and cost-effective to monitor, and provide high-quality 

data that reflect mercury exposure in fish and other wildlife. As volunteers in over 100 national parks, more than 4,500 public 

participants contributed to data collection to date, revealing high or severe mercury risk across the U.S. and highlighting the need for 

further data in the nation’s waters.

With its citizen science approach, the Dragonfly Mercury Project engages the public in authentic science, facilitating a better 

understanding of mercury pollution and its impacts on people and wildlife. Project participants are comprised of diverse partners, 

including those underrepresented in STEM fields and in communities impacted by environmental contaminants like mercury. A key 

strength of this project is the demonstrated commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Investment from a coalition of federal agencies will expand the capabilities of the Dragonfly Mercury Project, helping agencies 

achieve goals that advance missions central to natural resource management, environmental protection, science, and public 

engagement. Ultimately, contributions from diverse partners will strengthen the benefits of this project for each participating agency 

and increase their ability to address the specific critical needs for managers and the public.

Executive Summary

1

2

3

4

5
Objectives

Develop a quantitative model 

to forecast mercury risk

Develop tools and options for 

mitigating risk from mercury

Test efficacy of mercury emissions 

reductions on availability in 

aquatic food webs

Engage and educate citizen 

scientists and the public

Improve understanding of mercury 

issues across various audiences

Goals

• Identify safer water bodies for

fishing or that pose wildlife &

human health risks

• Develop dynamic models and

data visualization tools for

resource managers and the

public

• Rank potential impairment

risk of water bodies for human

health associated with fishing

• Provide resource managers

with techniques for reducing

mercury risk in different

management scenarios and

environments

• Understand the sensitivity

of different ecosystems to

changes in atmospheric

mercury deposition (i.e.,

How do changes in mercury

deposition affect mercury

concentrations in wildlife?)

• Provide authentic outdoor

STEM experiences;

serve underrepresented

communities

• Engage citizens in collaborative

science; inform about mercury

• Standardize data collection;

ensure ongoing utility

• Increase awareness of mercury

in the environment and

environmental stewardship

• Provide accessible summaries

of mercury issues for agency

leadership; agency and partner

staff who lead local Dragonfly

Mercury Project sampling;

various public audiences;

Congress

End Users

U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency; U.S. Centers for Disease 

Control & Prevention; Tribes; 

Resource management agencies; 

State health agencies

Public and private land 

managers such as agencies, 

Tribes, NGOs, corporations

U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency; U.S. Dept. of Interior; 

U.S. Dept. of State; National 

Atmospheric Deposition 

Program; United Nations 

Environment Programme; Tribes; 

Industry

Educators/Teachers; Public; 

Youth/Students; Tribes; 

Recreational and subsistence 

fish consumers

Senior decision makers; State 

and federal legislators; Tribes; 

Recreational and subsistence 

fish consumers

Resource Needs

Postdoctoral researcher; 

scientific products to support 

data

Research support Postdoctoral Researcher Educational Coordinator Communication Specialist

Short-term 

Products

(1-2 years)

Prototype mapping tool 

assigning potential mercury risk 

across the landscape

Study design, experimental 

implementation

Journal article with analysis & 

static map testing relationship 

between atmospheric mercury & 

food web accumulation

Revise existing education 

materials and lesson plans

Briefing document, informal 

articles, videos, social 

media, news, presentations, 

conferences

Mid-term Products

(5 years)

Interactive mapping tool with 

site-specific primary drivers of 

mercury risk 

Case studies from controlled 

experiments Status report to parks

Engage educators and share 

materials; hold education 

conference for youth

Bring materials to audiences 

and gather feedback aimed at 

improvements

Long-term 

Products

(10+ years)

Expanded coverage across 

watersheds nationally

Table of prescribed management 

options based on environment, 

mercury source, etc.

Journal article repeated every 

10 years

Evaluate citizen science 

programs and revise 

appropriately every 5 years

Revise communication plan as 

data record lengthens and as 

additional partners and sites 

engage

Risk Quantification

1

Management Solutions Effectiveness Evaluation Education Outreach & 

Communication

2 3 4 5

Table 1. Five primary objectives of an expanded Dragonfly Mercury Project tied to primary users, key products, and estimated costs. These objectives and associated resource needs depend upon a stable 

baseline program necessary for overall coordination and leveraging of effort. Baseline costs range between $500K and $650K depending on scale and partner information needs.
1 | Mercury: A global pollutant

• Mercury is a toxic pollutant that harms human and wildlife health and is the

leading cause of fish consumption advisories in North America.

• The severity of health risks and associated costs posed by mercury contamination

has motivated state-based, national, and international efforts to minimize

mercury exposure in humans and reduce mercury releases to the environment.

• Domestically, mercury regulation is across multiple media, including emissions

to air, discharges to water, and at contaminated sites. Internationally, mercury

pollution reductions are implemented under a binding global treaty – the

Minamata Convention on Mercury.

• However, mercury cycling is complicated, and the risk of exposure and toxicity is

often decoupled from inorganic mercury contamination, meaning that emissions

reductions alone may not reduce mercury risk in some locations.

• The distribution of mercury in aquatic food webs is widespread, but its

disconnect from inorganic mercury contamination makes it difficult to predict

wildlife and human health exposure risks of mercury based on atmospheric or

watershed loading estimates. Instead, biosentinels (i.e., organisms used to gauge

pollutant concentrations and inform estimates of risks to human and wildlife

health) are a common monitoring tool.

Mercury: 

A global pollutant that harms 

economies, human health, and wildlife
Mercury: A global pollutant | 2

Nearly half of all lakes in the United 

States contain fish with mercury 

concentrations of concern,1 as 

do approximately one-quarter of 

all streams across the country.2

Consumption of contaminated fish is the 

primary pathway of mercury exposure in 

humans, which has resulted in a global 

burden of disease that is estimated 

to be higher than both hepatitis and 

Parkinson’s Disease.3 The resulting 

economic costs of mercury from lost 

productivity alone4 are projected at $12 

billion (range = $3.3-64 billion) annually, 

and the cumulative health costs from 

mercury exposure (assuming no change 

over time) between 2015-2050 are 

estimated at $339 billion. Mercury 

contamination of sportfish and wildlife 

reduces the economic viability of the 

$15 billion commercial and recreational 

fishing and hunting industries through 

both reduced market value and 

equipment sales.5

 Fishing plays an 

important cultural and subsistence 

role for many subpopulations, 

particularly indigenous people; mercury 

contamination reduces access to these 

cultural practices.

MERCURY AND SOCIETY

Mercury: A global pollutant | 2
3 | Mercury: A global pollutant

Mercury interacts with chemical, geological, and biological processes in the environment (Figure 1), which differ 

greatly from site to site. Specifically, the form of mercury that transports globally, inorganic mercury, does not become 

bioavailable or highly toxic until aquatic microbes convert it to its organic form (methylmercury). This process does not 

occur everywhere; instead it is restricted to aquatic environments with conditions that support particular microbial 

communities. As a result, animals in water bodies with extensive inorganic mercury contamination but limited 

conversion to methylmercury may have relatively low concentrations of methylmercury in their bodies, whereas 

animals in water bodies with little inorganic mercury contamination but the right conditions to promote methylmercury 

production can have extremely high methylmercury concentrations. The complexity of mercury cycling is why risk from 

mercury contamination has been a puzzle to predict with certainty, and why our site-specific biosentinel approach 

utilizing dragonfly larvae can provide more robust estimates of risk. 

Figure 1. A simplified mercury cycle showing how mercury enters and cycles through ecosystems, biomagnifies up the food web, and bioaccumulates 

in fish and wildlife.

MERCURY CYCLING IN THE ENVIRONMENT

Runoff

Emissions

Deposition

Evasion

Mercury Cycle

Fish consumption 

and health impacts

Conversion to 

methylmercury

Biomagnification
Mercury: A global pollutant | 4

Dragonflies are the ideal 

biosentinel for mercury

Many animals can serve as effective mercury biosentinels, but their utility 

depends on the characteristics of the organism and the inference uses of 

the data.6 Fish and aquatic-dependent birds are often used as mercury 

biosentinels because they can directly inform exposure risk to humans or 

sensitive wildlife species that rely on aquatic species for food.7 However, 

several challenges limit their use: consistent taxa (species, or groups of 

species) are often unavailable across areas of interest;8 their movements 

complicate the origins of bioaccumulated mercury;9 some water bodies lack 

resident fish populations;10 and vertebrate sampling can be impeded by 

logistical, regulatory, or ethical concerns. 

Dragonfly larvae, the immature form of the familiar flying adult insects, 

are ideal mercury biosentinels. A predatory invertebrate, dragonfly larvae 

exhibit higher concentrations of mercury than other aquatic insects and are 

ubiquitous, encompassing a geographically widespread distribution across 

six continents and varied habitat types.11 Additionally, their mercury levels 

are well-correlated with those in fish and other aquatic-dependent wildlife, 

linking dragonflies to both environmental mercury concentrations and 

potential human exposure pathways.12

Sampling dragonfly larvae at Katmai National Park & Preserve (AK). 

Inset photo: Dragonfly larva, family Aeshnidae, collected for the study 

from Olympic National Park (WA).

Mercury: A global pollutant | 4
5 | The Dragonfly Mercury Project

A youth group from NatureBridge, an outdoor classroom and environmental science 

program at Olympic National Park (WA), learning how to look for and sample 

dragonflies at Lake Crescent for the Dragonfly Mercury Project.

The Dragonfly Mercury Project:

Informing resource management, protecting public 

health, and engaging the public in science

The Dragonfly Mercury Project is a national-scale monitoring, research, education, and public engagement initiative. The 

project is currently (2020) managed by the National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey, with collaborative engagement 

from the Appalachian Mountain Club and Dartmouth College. Over the past 10 years, we have assessed mercury 

concentrations in dragonfly larvae in more than 500 water bodies across more than 100 U.S. national parks and other 

federal, state, and local protected areas (Figure 2), and engaged more than 4,500 public participants. Implemented under 

a citizen science framework, the Dragonfly Mercury Project’s multi-tiered approach benefits diverse partners—e.g., federal 

and state agencies, local municipalities, resource managers, and subsistence and recreational consumers of freshwater 

fish—with different interests and capacities (Table 2). 

Figure 2. Dragonfly Mercury Project sampling locations across 107 

national parks and other protected places, 2009-2019.
The Dragonfly Mercury Project | 6

DRAGONFLY MERCURY PROJECT

Vision

Resource managers, policy makers, scientists, and the public have the information and 

tools necessary to understand levels and drivers of mercury in the nation’s surface waters, 

enabling reductions of the impacts of mercury pollution on public health and wildlife.

Mission

We engage the public in providing actionable information about mercury in freshwater ecosystems to reduce risk to public 

health, inform policy and resource management, and advance science and public understanding of mercury pollution.

Goals

We aim to formalize a scientific and educational program with leadership positions that coordinate expansion to other agencies 

and organizations, growing the value of data collection efforts to other public lands and facilitating development of modeled and 

mitigation risk management strategies, and educational tools.

Primary Objectives

1. Risk Quantification: Develop a quantitative model to forecast risk from mercury.

2. Management Solutions: Develop tools and options for assessing/mitigating risk from mercury.

3. Effectiveness Evaluation: Test the efficacy of mercury emissions reductions on availability of

mercury in aquatic food webs.

4. Education: Engage and educate community and citizen scientists, and the public.

5. Outreach and Communications: Communicate the importance and improve understanding of

mercury issues across a variety of audiences, including policymakers.

Urban Groundworks youth participants from the Washington, D.C. metro area after 

sampling dragonflies for mercury analysis at Shenandoah National Park (VA). 
7 | The Dragonfly Mercury Project

Beneficiary Dragonfly Mercury Project will . . .

Anglers and Fish 

Consumers

Rank potential impairment risk of water bodies for human health associated with 

fishing and hunting. Inform potential need for targeted monitoring to guide potential 

consumption advisories.

Tourists and 

Outdoor 

Recreationists

Inform visitors about water quality, environmental stressors, and personal actions 

that can reduce pollution. Provide a vehicle for connecting people to public lands.

Land Managers

Develop techniques for reducing mercury in the environment or mitigating the 

health risk of mercury under different management scenarios and in different 

environments—e.g., prescribed fire, wetland restoration, fish reintroduction, 

reservoir management, invasive species management.

Scientists

Provide data to study patterns of mercury contamination, bioaccumulation, and 

ecosystem responses. Also contribute data to assess implications for public and 

wildlife health, the effectiveness of management and policy responses, and the social 

science of public engagement.

Public Educators 

and Students

Enable public participation in scientific research via middle-school to universitylevel students, and facilitate community and citizen scientist involvement in data 

collection, thereby increasing awareness of mercury in the environment and 

environmental stewardship. Engage underrepresented groups in STEM education and 

facilitate future workforce development.

Policy Makers Assess the effectiveness of mercury emissions reductions on mercury in aquatic 

food webs.

Table 2. Summary of major areas to which dragonfly mercury research contributes.

The Dragonfly Mercury Project | 7
The Dragonfly Mercury Project | 8

A cost-effective, scalable design benefitting 

diverse partners

The Dragonfly Mercury Project utilizes an integrated design, or a “network of networks” where individual groups of resource 

managers, scientists, and public participants are interconnected (Figure 3). Data integrity is accomplished through iteratively-vetted 

standardized sampling procedures coupled with a centralized laboratory that employs robust quality assurance measures and 

high-quality data documentation. The community and citizen science approach with the collection of field samples reduces costs 

of mercury monitoring by more than half in comparison to sampling by professional organizations, yet still results in high-quality 

data and information to support natural resource management and environmental protection, and engages the public in critical 

conservation science. Moreover, the approach benefits diverse partners.

This structure is scalable and adaptable to local circumstances. The train-the-trainer model allows local resource managers and 

educators to oversee sampling and provisioning of training materials. These staff liaisons work collaboratively with project scientists 

to select water bodies relevant to local issues and as appropriate, invest additional time supplementing citizen science field sampling 

with educational programs.

Figure 3. Process and information flow pathways of the Dragonfly Mercury Project. Each step communicates directly with all the others to produce 

robust data products for science applications, resource management, and community education.
9 | Demonstrated value for risk assessment and public engagement

Severe impairment

Sub-impairment

Engaging the Public in Actionable Science through a Combination of Fieldwork and Sophisticated Laboratory Analyses

Linking Mercury Levels in Dragonfly Larvae to Health Risk for Wildlife and Humans

Managing and Protecting Ecosystems

Demonstrated value for risk 

assessment and public engagement

Figure 4 (right). The Dragonfly Mercury Project is 

rooted in landscape-scale surveillance efforts, within 

a community and citizen science framework, that 

has been centered on U.S. national parks to date. 

Findings show that dragonfly larvae provide an 

effective model for understanding the distribution 

of mercury across the nation and determining the 

important factors of mercury bioaccumulation 

that can be used to estimate potential ecosystem 

impairment.12

Through its coupling of scientific efforts to understand mercury pollution risks with 

public engagement and education, the Dragonfly Mercury Project is a unique 

national-scale study. It combines easy-to-achieve field work with sophisticated 

laboratory and computational analyses to shed light on the risk of mercury 

contamination across varied ecosystems (Figure 4). These components 

advance the scientific understanding of mercury risk, information policy, 

and management decisions surrounding safe fishing regulations, 

wetland management, landscape alteration, reservoir management, 

and protected land surveillance. Additionally, the program has the 

potential to create next-generation stewards; enlightening a mainly 

youth-based pool of citizen scientists about the connection of all 

living things, the influence humans have upon natural systems, 

and how environmentally-responsible decisions can protect 

places and the planet. 

The Dragonfly Mercury Project produced a landmark study describing mercury in fish and wildlife on National Park Service 

lands and across the United States. To date, significant accomplishments include:

• Surveillance and assessment of mercury condition in more than 500 water bodies spanning more 

than 100 national parks and other protected areas;

• Publication of technical reports and scientific papers that describe public health and wildlife 

mercury risk across the United States and educational application of the Dragonfly Mercury Project 

for working with school curricula;

• More than 50 presentations and briefings to a variety of audiences to communicate results, risks to 

the public and wildlife, and potential management actions;

• Availability of data to resource managers and the public through a publicly accessible database, 

including interactive portals to view mercury data and explore the relationships between mercury, 

dragonflies, and other wildlife and humans; and

• Engagement with thousands of citizen scientists and other members of the public.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Demonstrated value for risk assessment and public engagement | 10

Figure 5. Percentage of sample sites with dragonfly mercury concentrations 

that correspond with defined risk categories of ecosystem health. While 10 

percent of sites were below known impairment benchmarks; 22 percent, 56 

percent, 11 percent, and 1 percent of sites posed low, moderate, high, or severe 

risk of impairment to fish, wildlife, and humans, respectively.

The Dragonfly Mercury Project is the most comprehensive assessment of mercury contamination and environmental risk in the 

nation’s protected lands. This foundational work:12

• Established a surveillance network for mercury in 

protected lands across the United States, by development 

of a robust and effective biomonitoring tool – charismatic 

mini-fauna (dragonflies). 

• Engaged youth and citizenry in meaningful research 

and experiential learning opportunities that provide 

community learning and important scientific contributions 

at an exceptional cost savings to the public in comparison 

to more common approaches. 

• Quantified taxonomic relationships in mercury 

concentrations among dragonfly families – facilitating 

development of consistent reporting “currency” across the 

landscape, even when different taxa are sampled.

• Developed an index that informs wildlife and human 

health risk to mercury based on dragonfly concentrations.

• Determined that risk from mercury differed among 

habitats, with rivers being higher than lakes, and that 

substantially higher mercury was associated with water 

bodies surrounded by wetlands.

• Found evidence that local ecosystem factors confound the 

direct linkage between atmospheric mercury deposition 

and patterns of mercury risk to fish and wildlife.

• Found 10 percent of sites were safer (below known 

impairment benchmarks); whereas, 12 percent of sites 

posed high or severe risk of impairment of fish, wildlife, and 

humans (Figure 5).

• Contributes to assessing the effectiveness of the global 

mercury reduction treaty in reducing mercury exposure 

to fish, wildlife, and humans.

Adult azure hawker dragonfly 

(family Aeshnidae) from Lake Clark 

National Park & Preserve (AK).

STUDY RESULTS

Severe

Sub-impairment

Low

High

Moderate
11 | Demonstrated value for risk assessment and public engagement

A QUICK HISTORY OF THE DRAGONFLY MERCURY PROJECT

Since its inception, the Dragonfly Mercury Project has expanded in scope and engagement, facilitating interaction with thousands 

of citizen scientists and uniting seven distinct organizations that represent federal, academic, and nonprofit sectors (Figure 6). The 

project grew out of a local, inquiry-based education program with researchers and a group of teachers in Maine in 2009.13 The 

University of Maine and the National Park Service expanded the pilot effort in 2011 and partnered with U.S. Geological Survey in 

2013 to implement a national scale demonstration study to quantify the efficacy of dragonflies as mercury biosentinels. Over the 

ten-year span of the Dragonfly Mercury Project, it has linked scientists with resource managers, interpreters, and volunteers to 

sample more than 500 water bodies spanning 47 states. This effort led to an assessment of mercury risk to people and wildlife in 

these areas; reports, maps, and other communications informing park managers about safe and high-risk water bodies in their 

jurisdictions; over 25 scientific publications (https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/649547); and the engagement of more 

than 4,500 citizen science volunteers who participated in the data collection process. In 2018, a partnership with the National Park 

Foundation facilitated engagement with additional federal agencies and the development of a Steering Committee representing 

diverse resource management and regulatory agencies. This committee outlined strategic actions to maximize the benefit of 

the Dragonfly Mercury Project to resource management, the protection of public health, and the engagement of the public in 

conservation, as well as to facilitate the long-term sustainability of the project. 

Figure 6. Developmental timeline of the Dragonfly Mercury Project demonstrating growth in citizen engagement and partnering institutions 

(circle segments represent relative contributions) over time. UMaine = University of Maine; NPS = National Park Service; USGS = U.S. Geological Survey; 

NPF = National Park Foundation; AMC = Appalachian Mountain Club; Dartmouth = Dartmouth College; Schoodic = Schoodic Institute 

Sampling dragonfly larvae for mercury analysis at Great Smoky 

Mountains National Park (NC) with Cherokee Tribal High School.

2011	
   2012	
   2013	
   2014	
   2015	
   2016	
   2017	
   2018	
   2019	
  

More	
  than	
  4,500	
  ci7zen	
  scien7sts	
  engaged	
  since	
  2009	
  

40	
  ci7zen	
  scien7sts	
   421	
  ci7zen	
  scien7sts	
   2,238	
  ci7zen	
  scien7sts	
   3,763	
  ci7zen	
  scien7sts	
  

6	
  parks	
   15	
  parks 25	
  parks	
   39	
  parks	
   60	
  parks	
   78	
  parks	
   92	
  parks	
   102	
  parks	
  

2020	
  

107	
  parks	
  

4,668	
  ci7zen	
  scien7sts	
  

3	
  parks	
   4	
  parks	
  

2009	
   2010	
  

UMaine	
   NPS	
   USGS	
   NPF	
   AMC	
   Dartmouth	
   Schoodic	
  
Growing the Dragonfly Mercury Project will increase its ability to address critical needs for managers and the public | 12

Growing the Dragonfly 

Mercury Project will 

increase its ability to 

address critical needs for 

managers and the public

Data on dragonfly mercury can serve federal and state agencies, local municipalities, resource managers, educational or scientific 

research institutions, non-governmental organizations, or subsistence and recreational consumers of freshwater fish by quantifying 

the risk to humans and wildlife, providing management solutions to mercury contamination, determining the effectiveness of 

mercury reductions, offering hands-on and minds-on educational opportunities, and educating the public (Table 1). Achieving these 

goals requires (1) broadening the baseline operations to incorporate additional habitats and ecoregions, reach new public audiences, 

and strengthen partnerships with new agencies and organizations; and (2) implementing targeted activities associated with each of 

the specific goals. 

Broader sampling and partnerships will improve risk forecasting and an understanding of how best to mitigate risks associated with 

mercury pollution in different areas. Doing so will also multiply opportunities for youth, community members, and other citizen 

scientists to engage in experiential learning and educational opportunities. Growth of the project will also increase cost efficiencies. 

For example, the funding model of the project requires sampling sites (e.g., parks, refuges) to provide funding to offset the costs 

of analyzing samples. As sampling grows, per-site costs will drop and analytical power will increase, meaning that analyses of risk 

and management options will have greater precision and confidence. Adding targeted activities—e.g., developing dynamic models 

and visualization tools to assess and communicate risk, running large-scale experiments to test management techniques to mitigate 

mercury contamination, holding workshops to coordinate communication and engagement with the public—will allow expansion of 

this broad mercury surveillance and monitoring effort, and to address specific resource management, policy, research, education, 

and public engagement goals.

A Girl Scout Troop samples for the Dragonfly Mercury 

Project at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (AZ).
13 | You can help grow the Dragonfly Mercury Project to benefit managers and the public

You can help grow the Dragonfly 

Mercury Project to benefit managers 

and the public

There are multiple ways your organization can participate and engage with the 

Dragonfly Mercury Project to meet your agency’s needs and interests. Specifically, you 

can support base operations and activities associated with one or more of the project’s 

priority objectives:

1. Risk Quantification: Develop a quantitative model to forecast risk

from mercury.

2. Management Solutions: Develop tools and options for assessing/

mitigating risk from mercury.

3. Effectiveness Evaluation: Test the efficacy of mercury emissions

reductions on availability of mercury in aquatic food webs.

4. Education: Engage and educate community and citizen scientists, and

the public.

5. Outreach and Communications: Communicate the importance and

improve understanding of mercury issues across a variety of audiences.

Activities associated with these goals that agencies can invest in include development 

of models and analytical tools, design and implementation management experiments, 

implementation of science and educational programs, and communication and 

engagement with the public. Support from multiple partners will limit the financial 

burden on any singular entity among the many that will benefit from the project. For 

example, costs during the first years of the Dragonfly Mercury Project were largely split 

among the National Park Service—which provided staff and funds for coordination, 

communication, and site-based costs—and the U.S. Geological Survey—which 

provided staff and funds for coordination, data analysis, and reporting. As we grow the 

project to expand its benefits to resource management and environmental protection 

organizations, your agency can contribute to the parts of the project that most meet 

your needs and interests.

The Dragonfly Mercury Project is poised to help protect natural resources and the 

people who enjoy and depend on them from mercury exposure. We invite you to help 

us achieve that goal. 

CONTACT INFORMATION

For more information, please contact the Dragonfly Mercury Project coordinators 

Collin Eagles-Smith (ceagles-smith@usgs.gov) and Colleen Flanagan Pritz (colleen_flanagan_pritz@nps.gov).

We can provide supporting publications to facilitate decision making, schedule briefings to 

discuss the various engagement options, and outline the logistics of the program in more detail.

A Tucson High School student and “BioBlitz” 

participant at Rocky Mountain National Park (CO) 

identifies a dragonfly larvae before submitting the 

sample for mercury analysis.
Appendix A | 14

The Dragonfly Mercury Project Implementation Team (Table A1) includes the Leadership Team, Steering Committee, and the Science 

Team, which is integral to project oversight, overall study design, and both technical and logistical operations. The project Leadership 

Team focuses on science and education efforts, including developing research avenues and publications. The multi-agency Dragonfly 

Mercury Project Steering Committee currently includes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. 

Geological Survey, National Park Service, Dartmouth College, and Appalachian Mountain Club. Members provide strategic vision, 

review products and outcomes, and advise the project as it grows.

Appendix A. Growth Implementation Team

Table A1. The Dragonfly Mercury Project Implementation Team, including contributions for current state 

and future growth from representatives at federal agencies, academic institutions, and non-governmental 

organizations. The superscript (+) equates to management-level participation, while the superscript (o)

equates to staff-level participation.

Organization

ROLE

Leadership 

Team

Science 

Team

Steering 

Committee

National Park Service

Air Resources Division+ o • • •

Natural Resources Stewardship & Science+

•

Inventory & Monitoring Division+

•

Great Lakes Inventory & Monitoring Networko

•

Acadia National Parko

• •

Rocky Mountain National Park+

•

U.S. Geological Survey

Ecosystems Mission Area+

•

Forest & Rangeland Ecosystem Science Centero

• • •

Upper Midwest Water Science Centero

•

Appalachian Mountain Club

Research Program • • •

Dartmouth College

Department of Biological Sciences • •

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Atmospheric Programso

•

Office of Research & Development+

•

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Inventory & Monitoring Division+

•

National Park Foundation

Programs & Partnerships •

An AmeriCorps team member participates in 

dragonfly sampling at Homestead National 

Monument of America (NE).

Appendix A | 14
15

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16

Resources

Contributors

Colleen Flanagan Pritz (National Park Service, Air Resources Division, Denver, Colorado)

Collin Eagles-Smith (U.S. Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Corvallis, Oregon) 

Sarah J. Nelson (Appalachian Mountain Club, Boston, Massachusetts)

Abe Miller-Rushing (National Park Service, Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine) 

Acknowledgements

The concept and content for this prospectus was developed collaboratively by the above authors, in concert with the highly regarded 

guidance and contributions of the Dragonfly Mercury Project Steering Committee: Jay Benforado and David Schmeltz (U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency); Celia Chen (Dartmouth College); Kirsten Gallo, Carol McCoy, Koren Nydick, and David VanderMeulen (National Park 

Service); Jana Newman (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service); and Jake Weltzin (U.S. Geological Survey). We are also thankful for the technical 

and administrative assistance provided by Katherine Ko (National Park Service), and appreciate the guidance and review provided by other 

current and former staff at the National Park Service - Air Resources Division (John Vimont, Mike Bell, Kristi Morris, and Tamara Blett).

Support for the Dragonfly Mercury Project is provided by the National Park Service, the U.S. Geological Survey-National Park Service Water 

Quality Partnership, U.S. Geological Survey Environmental Health Mission Area’s Contaminants Biology and Toxics Substances Hydrology 

Programs, the U.S. Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area, University of Maine, and the National Park Foundation. We thank staff at 

the U.S. Geological Survey contaminant ecology research lab for field, lab, and data management assistance, namely James Willacker and 

Colleen Emery. We also value the early contributions of Roger Haro (Univ. of Wisconsin), and support offered by Megan Hess and Amanda 

Klemmer (Univ. of Maine). Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park and Hannah Webber provided educational materials that served as 

the basis of the experiential opportunities afforded to national parks and citizenry across the country. Lastly and most importantly, we are 

particularly indebted to the numerous dedicated National Park Service staff across the country for their engagement in this effort, and for 

the thousands of community and citizen scientists that volunteered their time and energy to collect dragonfly larvae for this project.

Credits

Photographs

Cover: A student group from Astoria High School looks for dragonfly larvae at Lewis and Clark National Historic Park (OR).

Inside cover, page iii: A student from Flathead High School studies a dragonfly larvae with a magnifying box at Glacier National Park (MT).

Page iv, clockwise from top: Sampling for the Dragonfly Mercury Project at Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MN); Discussing 

dragonflies and other aquatic insects found with high school students at Saguaro National Park (AZ); A citizen scientist at Cuyahoga Valley 

National Park (OH) completes the field data sheet.

Page v: Public participants investigate dragonfly samples collected at Lake Clark National Park & Preserve (AK) on behalf of the Dragonfly 

Mercury Project, a landscape-scale surveillance study that links scientific efforts to understand the risks of mercury pollution with public 

engagement and management actions.

Page 1-2: Smoke stacks releasing emissions. Ella Ivanescu, Unsplash

Page 2: A young boy catches a fish. David Boozer, Unsplash

Page 12: An adult dragonfly emerges from its larval exoskeleton. Dorothea Oldani, Unsplash

Page 16: Early light at Chasm Lake with Long’s Peak in the background at Rocky Mountain National Park (CO). NPS/John Wullschleger

All photos attributed to the National Park Service or U.S. Geological Survey, unless otherwise noted.

Layout & Design

Abigail Osterhout

More Information

Dragonfly Mercury Project Story Map 

https://wim.usgs.gov/geonarrative/dmp/

Dragonfly Mercury Project Web Page 

https://go.nps.gov/dragonflymercury