To test the compositing approach to sampling,

a no. 30-mesh (0.59-mm) sieve and a large, long-

two people took samples simultaneously in pon-

handled stainless steel spoon to collect several sed-

ded areas of Eagle River Flats. The first person

iment samples over a radius of up to 5 m or along

chose a site and then took a 500-mL sediment

a transect that included two or more discrete sam-

sample by combining several small samples of

ple sites (Fig. 3). The wash bucket was held un-

the surface sediment within a 0.5-m radius. The

derwater and the sample continuously stirred to

second person used a wash bucket equipped with

reduce the volume. Samples were taken until the

volume of material on the sieve was approximately

500 mL.

Sieved samples were tested for the presence of