The first Pellston Workshop was held in 1977 to address the needs and means for assessing the hazards of chemicals to aquatic life. Since then, many workshops have been held to evaluate current and prospective environmental issues. Each has focused on a relevant environmental topic, and the proceedings of each have been published as a peer-reviewed or informal report. These documents have been widely distributed and are valued by environmental scientists, engineers, regulators, and managers because of their technical basis and their comprehensive, state-of-the-science reviews. The first four Pellston workshops were initiated before the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) was effectively functioning. Beginning with the 1982 workshop, however, SETAC has been the primary organizer and SETAC members (on a volunteer basis) have been instrumental in planning, conducting, and disseminating workshop results.
The organization and format of all the Pellston workshops have been similar. After review by the SETAC Technical Committee and approval by the SETAC Board of Directors, a Steering Committee has identified a group of 40 to 50 experts in the subject area, extended invitations, and solicited funding. A balance among academia, business, government, and public-interest groups has been sought in both representation by technical experts and in financial support. To begin most workshops, discussion-initiation papers are presented. Group discussions, workgroup deliberations, and written reports are produced during the week. The Steering Committee and SETAC are responsible for consolidating, editing, producing, and distributing the workshop proceedings and other reports (an Executive Summary, for example).
SETAC has also conducted several similar workshops designated as Technical Workshops. Unlike Pellston Workshops, they have been more focused on a single topic exploring the criticality and timeliness of the topic, with the emphasis on likelihood that the workshop will significantly advance our scientific understanding of the issue. The basics of balance and objectivity that underlie all SETAC activities also apply to Technical Workshops, of course.
• Pellston Workshops
** Technical Workshops
• Estimating the Hazard of Chemical Substances to Aquatic Life. Held in Pellston, Michigan, June 13–17, 1977. Proceedings published by the American Society for Testing and Materials, STP 657, in 1978.
• Analyzing the Hazard Evaluation Process. Held in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, August 14–18, 1978. Proceedings published by The American Fisheries Society in 1979.
• Biotransformation and Fate of Chemicals in the Aquatic Environment. Held in Pellston, Michigan, August 14–18, 1979. Proceedings published by The American Society of Microbiology in 1980.
• Modeling the Fate of Chemicals in the Aquatic Environment. Held in Pellston, Michigan, August 16–21, 1981. Proceedings published by Ann Arbor Science in 1982.
• Environmental Hazard Assessment of Effluents. Held in Cody, Wyoming, August 23–27, 1982. Proceedings published in a SETAC Special Publication by Pergamon Press in 1985.
• Fate and Effects of Sediment-Bound in Aquatic Systems. Held in Florissant, Colorado, August 11–18, 1984. Proceedings published in a SETAC Special Publication by Pergamon Press in 1987.
• Research Priorities in Environmental Risk Assessment. Held in Breckenridge, Colorado, August 16–21, 1987. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1987.
• Biomarkers: Biochemical, Physiological, and Histological Markers of Anthropogenic Stress. Held in Keystone, Colorado, July 23–28, 1989. Proceedings published in a SETAC Special Publication by Lewis Publishers in 1992.
• Population Ecology and Wildlife Toxicology of Agricultural Pesticide Use: A Modeling Initiative for Avian Species. Held in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, July 22–27, 1990. Proceedings published in a SETAC Special Publication by Lewis Publishers in 1994.
• A Technical Framework for [Product] Life-Cycle Assessments. Held in Smuggler's Notch, Vermont, August 18–23, 1990. Proceedings published by SETAC in January 1991, with second printing in September 1991 and third printing in March 1994.
• Aquatic Microcosms for Ecological Assessment of Pesticides. Held in Wintergreen, Virginia, October 7–11, 1991. Report published by SETAC in 1992.
• A Conceptual Framework for Life-Cycle Assessment Impact Assessment. Held in Sandestin, Florida, February 1–6, 1992. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1993.
• A Mechanistic Understanding of Bioavailability: Physical-Chemical Interactions. Held in Pellston, Michigan, August 17–22, 1992. Proceedings published in a SETAC Special Publication by Lewis Publishers in 1994.
• Life-Cycle Assessment Data Quality Workshop. Held in Wintergreen, Virginia, October 4–9, 1992. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1994.
• Avian Radio Telemetry in Support of Pesticide Field Studies. Held in Pacific Grove, California, January 5–8, 1993. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1998.
• Sustainability-Based Environmental Management. Held in Pellston, Michigan, August 25–31, 1993. Co-sponsored by the Ecological Society of America. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1998.
• Ecotoxicological Risk Assessment for Chlorinated Organic Chemicals. Held in Alliston, Ontario, Canada, July 25–29, 1994. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1998.
• Application of Life-Cycle Assessment to Public Policy. Held in Wintergreen, Virginia, August 14–19, 1994. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1997.
• Ecological Risk Assessment Decision Support System. Held in Pellston, Michigan, August 23–28, 1994. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1998.
• Avian Toxicity Testing. Held in Pensacola, Florida, December 4–7, 1994. Co-sponsored by OECD. Proceedings published by OECD in 1996.
• Chemical Ranking and Scoring (CRS): Guidelines for Developing and Implementing Tools for Relative Chemical Assessments. Held in Sandestin, Florida, February 12–16, 1995. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1997.
• Ecological Risk Assessment of Contaminated Sediments. Held in Pacific Grove, California, April 23–28, 1995. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1997.
• Ecotoxicology and Risk Assessment for Wetlands. Held in Fairmont, Montana, July 30–August 3, 1995. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1999.
• Uncertainty in Ecological Risk Assessment. Held in Pellston, Michigan, August 23–28, 1995. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1998.
• Whole-Effluent Toxicity Testing: An Evaluation of Methods and Prediction of Receiving System Impacts. Held in Pellston, Michigan, September 16–21, 1995. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1996.
**Reassessment of Metals Criteria for Aquatic Life Protection: Priorities for Research and Implementation. Held in Pensacola, Florida, February 10–14, 1996. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1997.
**A Framework for Ecological Risk Management. Held in Williamsburg, Virginia, June 25-27, 1997. Proceedings to be published by SETAC in 2001.
• Reproductive and Developmental Effects of Contaminants in Oviparous Vertebrates. Held in Fairmont, Montana, July 13-18, 1997. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1999.
• Multiple Stressors in Ecological Risk Assessment. Held in Pellston, Michigan, September 13-18, 1997. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1999.
• Re-evaluation of the State of the Science for Water Quality Criteria Development. Held in Fairmont, Montana, June 25-30, 1998. Proceedings published by SETAC in July 2003.
• Criteria for Persistence and Long-Range Transport of Chemicals in the Environment. Held in Fairmont Hot Springs, British Columbia, Canada, July 14-19, 1998. Proceedings published by SETAC in 2000.
• Assessing Contaminated Soils: From Soil-Contaminant Interactions to Ecosystem Management. Held in Pellston, Michigan, September 23-27, 1998. Proceedings published by SETAC in July 2003.
• Endocrine Disruption in Invertebrates -- Endocrinology, Testing, and Assessment (EDIETA). Held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, December 12-15, 1998. Proceedings published by SETAC in 1999.
**Predicting Ecological Impacts from Laboratory Toxicity Tests. Held in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, May 1-5, 1999. Proceedings to be published by SETAC.
• Assessing the Effects of Complex Stressors in Ecosystems. Held in Pellston, Michigan, September 11-16, 1999. Proceedings published by SETAC in 2001.
**Sediment Porewater Toxicity Testing: Biological, Chemical, and Ecological Considerations. Held in Pensacola, Florida, March 18-22, 2000. Proceedings published by SETAC in June 2003.
• Environmental - Human Health Interconnections. Held in Snowbird, Utah, June 10-15, 2000. Proceedings published by SETAC in 2002.
• Ecological Assessment of Aquatic Resources: Application, Implementation, and Communication. Held in Pellston, Michigan, September 16-21 2000. Proceedings to be published by SETAC.
**Toxicity Identification Evaluation / Toxicity Reduction Evaluation: What works and What Doesn’t. Held in Pensacola, Florida, June 23-27, 2001. Proceedings to be published by SETAC.
• The Global Decline of Amphibian Populations: An Integrated Analysis of Multiple Stressors Effects. Held at Wingspread, Racine, Wisconsin, August 18-23, 2001. Proceedings published by SETAC in 2003.
• Methods of Uncertainty Analysis for Pesticide Risks. Held in Pensacola, Florida, 24 February - 1 March 2002. Proceedings to be published by SETAC.
• The Role of Dietary Exposure in the Evaluation of Risk of Metals to Aquatic Organisms. Held at Fairmont Hot Springs, British Columbia, 27 July - 1 August 2002. Proceedings to be published by SETAC.
• Use of Sediment Quality Guidelines (SQGs) and Related Tools for the Assessment of Contaminated Sediments. Held at Fairmont Hot Springs, Montana, 17 - 22 August 2002. Proceedings to be published by SETAC in 2004.
**Hazard Identification Approach for Metals and Inorganic Metal Substances. Held at Pensacola Beach, Florida, 3-8 May 2003. Proceedings published by SETAC in 2006.
• Science for Assessment the Impacts of Human Pharmaceuticals on Aquatic Ecosystem. Held in Snowbird, Utah, 3-8 June 2003. Proceedings published by SETAC in 2005.
• Population-Level Ecological Risk Assessment. Held in Roskilde, Denmark, 23-27 August 2003. Proceedings to be published by SETAC in 2007.
** Mercury Monitoring and Assessment. Held in Pensacola, Florida, 14-17 September 2003. Proceedings to be published by SETAC in 2007.
• Valuation of Ecological Resources: Integration of Ecological Risk Assessment and Socio-Economics to Support Environmental Decisions. Held in Pensacola, Florida, 4-9 October 2003. Proceedings to be published by SETAC in 2007.
• Emerging Molecular and Computational Approaches for Cross-Species Extrapolations. Held in Portland, Oregon, 18-22 July 2004. Proceedings published by SETAC in 2006.
** Field-Based Effects Measures: Linking Responses to Ecological Consequences. Held in Portland, Oregon, 10-12 November 2004. Proceedings published in the SETAC journal, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management.
• Molecular Biology and Risk Assessment: Evaluation of the Potential Roles of Genomics in Regulatory Ecotoxicology. Held in Pellston, Michigan, 18-22 September 2006. Proceedings to be published by SETAC.
• Veterinary Pharmaceuticals. Held in Pensacola, Florida, 12-16 February 2006. Proceedings to be published by SETAC.
** Integrating Ecological and Economic Risks in Wildfire Management . Held in Racine, Wisconsin, 22-25 October 2006. Proceedings to be published in the SETAC journal, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management.
• Tissue Residue Approach for Toxicity Assessment: Invertebrates and Fish. Held in Leavenworth, Washington, 7-12 June 2007. Proceedings to be published by SETAC and CRC Press in 2009.
• Science-Based Guidance and Framework for the Evaluation and Identification of PBTs and POPs. Held in Pensacola, Florida, 28-31 January 2008. Proceedings to be published in the SETAC journal, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management.
** The Nexus Between Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) and Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA). Held in Fairmont, MT 18-22 August 2008.
• Ecological Assessment of Selenium in the Aquatic Environment. Held in Pensacola, Florida, 22-28 February 2009.
• A Vision and Strategy for Predictive Ecotoxicology in the 21st Century: Defining Adverse Outcome Pathways Associated with Ecological Risk. Held in Forest Grove, Oregon, 19-23 April 2009.
