The Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acting as Trustees for Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration, invite the public to an information meeting on Thursday, December 18, 2014, to learn about the potential acquisition and restoration of new park lands using natural resource damage restoration funds in southeast Missouri. The meeting will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the visitor’s center of Johnson Shut-Ins State Park, 148 Taum Sauk Trail, Middlebrook, MO 63656-9601.
Agency representatives will be on hand to discuss the proposed acquisition and restoration of lands to be added to an existing Missouri State Park. Funding for the acquisition and restoration project comes from a settlement with ASARCO, LLC, for natural resource damages associated with mining at sites in the New Lead Belt portion of the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District. The Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District spans multiple counties from 40 to 90miles south southwest of St. Louis, Missouri, and is located in the Big River, Black River and St. Francois River watersheds. It isone of the largest lead-producing regions of the world.
With the purchase and restoration of high-quality natural resources, the Trustees are seeking to compensate the public for the loss of natural resources and the services they provide as a result of lead and zinc contamination. Natural resources injured by the release of mining-related contaminants include surface water, groundwater, stream sediments, floodplain soils, fish, migratory birds, and aquatic invertebrates. Among other locations, ASARCO operated mines, mills, and a smelter which released heavy metals in Iron and Reynolds counties.
For more information about natural resource damage assessment and the Southeast Lead Mining District, visit http://www.fws.gov/midwest/es/ec/nrda/SEMONRDA/index.html or http://www.dnr.mo.gov/env/hwp/sfund/nrda.htm. In particular, the Southeast Missouri Ozarks Regional Restoration Plan and the Strategic Restoration Implementation Plan, available at the above websites, provide more detailed information about natural resource damage restoration.
