To assist the U.S. Navy in cleaning up the soon-to-be-closed Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Northern California, UC scientists are assessing the environmental condition of the base's surrounding, largely contaminated, wetlands. The scientists -- from UC Davis, UC San Diego, UCLA, UC Santa Cruz and Lawrence Berkeley Lab -- are researching stormwater runoff, environmental restoration plans, analysis of water for metals contamination, sediment tests and the results of remote sensing by helicopter, says Michael Johnson, an associate research engineer with UC Davis' civil and environmental engineering department. Johnson and his colleagues are supported in part through a grant from the UC Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program. Researchers are studying, for example, the toxicity of metals to invertebrate organisms that live near the bottom of a body of water and to salt marsh mice (an endangered species). The researchers will monitor the survival of the animals to check for the effects of chronic exposure to the toxic metals leftover from the Navy's work at the shipyard. In addition, the researchers will study the flow of contaminants into nearby estuaries and design analytical tools to help the Navy select remediation and restoration options.