Natural Resource
Restoration Overview

Middle Waterway Shore Restoration (G.Siani, NOAA, 1996) During Phase 1 of the natural resource damage assessment (NRDA), the Trustees, potentially responsible parties, and local environmental organizations that made up the Commencement Bay NRDA Restoration Panel developed restoration goals and project evaluation criteria, and identified and evaluated a series of potential restoration sites. The Trustees' restoration planning began with preparation of the Commencement Bay Cumulative Impact Study (CIS) (May/June 1993), by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NOAA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That study analyzed the impact to the Bay’s aquatic resources resulting mainly from redge-and-fill activities and identified restoration and mitigation options. As the CB/NRDA has progressed, the Trustees have entered into partial or full settlements of claims with several parties. These settlements have involved the creation of habitat restoration projects and/or the providing of funds, property or services for future construction of projects. Trustees' Restoration Vision Early in the restoration planning process the Trustees recognized the need to develop a bay-wide Restoration Vision Statement. The vision pulls together and integrates the restoration goals and concepts developed to date. The vision places emphasis on baywide restoration through an ecosystem or landscape approach rather than creating isolated fragments of habitats. Restoration Plan/Environmental Impact Statement Under the CB/NRDA process, the Trustees needed to determine the best approach to restoring, replacing, rehabilitating, and/or acquiring the equivalent natural resources and/or services injured as a result of the release of hazardous substances or a discharge of oil to the Commencement Bay environment. In order to guide the restoration planning process, the Trustees, building on the work of the restoration panel and the CIS, prepared a Restoration Plan and programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (RP/EIS). After evaluating the alternatives, the Trustees concluded that the preferred alternative, the Integrated Approach, best met the needs of the Trustees' restoration goals and principles by maximizing ecological benefits for a wide range of natural resources and their associated services. Restoration Plan. Commencement Bay Natural Resource Trustees [Trustees]. 06/97. (3324 kb) Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Assessment: sec. 1, 2 maps/figs sec. 3, 4 sec. 5 App. A-draft avian assessment App. B App. C App. D Vol. 2 - RP Final Restoration Plan Record of Decision. Trustees, 10/97.(553 kb)