COEUR d'ALENE - Student Chris Byrnes, a self-proclaimed "history guy," says he learned a few things Tuesday morning at Lakes Magnet Middle School in Coeur d'Alene.

Ed Moreen, remedial project manager for the Environmental Protection Agency's Coeur d'Alene office, presented middle school students with a brief history of Silver Valley mining practices. He discussed some of the ways historical mining practices affected the Coeur d'Alene basin and talked about the EPA's efforts to clean up mine wastes in the region.

"It was really intriguing," said Byrnes, 14.

The eighth-grader was among four classes of students that gathered in the school library to hear Moreen speak.

Byrnes attended the presentation with his History of Coeur d'Alene class. He said because he pays attention to anything historical, Moreen's lesson validated something he already knows.

"If we don't realize how our ancestors made mistakes, we're doomed to repeat them," Byrnes said.

Although much of the information was new to him, Byrnes said he wasn't surprised to hear it because he already knew that the region's economy, from the 1800s through the mid-1900s, was based on the mining and logging industries.

Moreen showed the students historic black-and-white photos and images of old mine sites today. There are hundreds of abandoned mill and mine sites throughout the Silver Valley, he said, and they all generated waste containing heavy metals - lead, zinc and cadmium. When rivers and creeks rise from heavy rains or snow melts, the sediments and the metals are picked up and carried downstream, Moreen said.

An old photo of the Morning Mine and mill area in Mullan showed a sluice line, highlighted in bright green, illustrating the stream of waste being deposited into the water. Back then, the rivers in the valley ran chalky, Moreen said. Waste piles and tailings ponds dotted the region.

One historic photo showed another environment-damaging practice - early 1900s outhouses lining the edge of a canyon above the river with the human waste being deposited directly into the water.

"A century ago, we thought our waterways were a good way to get rid of our waste," Moreen said.

In many of the photos, there were areas in the hills that were barren of trees. Moreen said much of that was caused by the Big Burn forest fire of 1910 and from acid rain created by sulfur dioxide from the mining.

The steep gradient from Wallace down to Cataldo pulls the sediment down from the slopes into the Coeur d'Alene River and eventually dumps it into Lake Coeur d'Alene, Moreen explained.

He showed an aerial photo of Kellogg in 1933 following massive flooding. The streets and yards in the town were covered in water that was filled with sediment and heavy metals.

Because the EPA is tasked with protecting the public's health, Moreen said the agency began testing the level of lead in Silver Valley residents' blood around 1973, a practice that continues today. In the early '70s, those levels were very high, but they have consistently gone down, he said.

"One of the things that we want to know is if our work is having a positive effect," Moreen said. "We've been cleaning up residential properties since 1970, and what we see is a strong correlation between blood lead levels and our cleanup activities."

It's one way the agency knows it is spending money on an effective project, he said. They also monitor zinc levels because it is harmful to aquatic life, including mayflies that fish eat. Zinc levels above Wallace are fairly low, Moreen said, but they skyrocket in the canyons and the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River.

Measuring metals over time provides a picture of what's going on, Moreen said. An important spot for the EPA is at Harrison where the Coeur d'Alene River dumps into Lake Coeur d'Alene.

"We found in January this year, 360,000 pounds of lead in the water at one time," Moreen said.

The water was at its highest point in the runoff, he said. They found similar high numbers in cadmium and zinc levels, and all levels were consistent with any time they have been measured since the early 1990s.

The EPA has been working to reduce the health risks and environmental hazards left by the mining industry in the Silver Valley for 30 years, Moreen said. They have re-channeled streams, captured water and treated it, removed contaminated water and other waste, and removed and replaced 12-inches of topsoil throughout the region. There is a recreation area on the river with an asphalt parking lot and concrete boat ramp, constructed specifically, Moreen said, to allow people to launch safely.

"The Coeur d'Alene district was a very productive metal district, providing metals for our assurance ... but as a result of the historic waste disposal practices we have a very contaminated system," Moreen said. "The EPA is here because there are risks. The cleanup has been going on for 30-some years, and it's going to go on for many decades."