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U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Sacramento Fish & Wildlife Office
News Release
January 14, 2008
Cosco Busan Oil Spill Restoration Agencies Schedule Two Public Meetings to Obtain Public Input
Meetings January 22 in Oakland and January 29 in Mill Valley
Meetings are distinct from clean-up
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Contacts: Al Donner, (916) 414-6566 Steve Hampton, (916) 323-4724 |
Natural Resource Damage Assessment & Restoration Planning Fact Sheet California Dept. of Fish & Game |
Restoration of the natural resources injured by the Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay will be the focus of two public meetings, on Tuesday, Jan. 22 in Oakland and on Tuesday, Jan. 29 in Mill Valley.
The Jan. 22 Oakland open house will take place from 11 am to 1 pm in the First Floor Auditorium in the Elihu M. Harris State Building 1515 Clay Street Oakland. The Jan. 29 Mill Valley open house will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 pm in the Cascade Room of the Mill Valley Community Center, 180 El Camino Alto, Mill Valley.
The meetings will be conducted by State and Federal Trustee Agencies (trustees) responsible for restoring the injured resources, after assessing ecological injuries and human use losses caused by the spill. The trustees will brief the public on the restoration process, answer questions and seek information from the public about injuries resulting from the spill.
A primary purpose of the meetings is to provide an opportunity for the public and other organizations to learn about the restoration process and to provide any additional information and data they collected. Because the focus of these meetings is on injury assessment and ultimate restoration, these representatives will not be able to address questions about the immediate response to the spill.
The restoration process is distinct from the initial clean-up activities. As the clean-up work winds down, the injury assessment and restoration process continues. Known as NRDA, or Natural Resource Damage Assessment, the restoration process is a long-term effort to quantify injuries to wildlife and habitat, and loss of human use of natural resources. Trustees from six federal and state agencies will develop a restoration plan both to restore the injured resources and to compensate the public for the injuries to the natural resources and human activities.
The trustees, in cooperation with local cities, counties, and other organizations, are working to assess the ecological injuries and human use losses caused by the spill. Through this process, the trustees will quantify the injuries to wildlife, habitat, and lost use of those resources, and develop a restoration plan. The trustees ultimately will make a claim for funds from the responsible party to implement restoration projects designed to both restore and compensate for the injured resources and human activities.
On the day of the spill, the trustees started working to assess the injuries and to collect time-critical data. Since then, they have been collecting samples, conducting other assessment activities and begun analyzing data. To date, they have identified impacts to birds, mammals, various habitats (including rocky intertidal, sandy beach, salt marsh, and eelgrass), and human uses. During the course of the NRDA, the trustees will attempt to quantify these injuries. The trustees will provide additional information on the status of this ongoing process at the open houses.
The natural resource trustees are:
State of California:
- Department of Fish and Game
- State Lands Commission
Federal:
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- National Park Service
- Bureau of Land Management
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.
The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 fishery resource offices and 81 ecological services field stations.
The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to State fish and wildlife agencies.
