Federal and state natural resource agencies today released two draft restoration plans and environmental assessments that consider projects to restore natural resources and their supporting habitat lost as a result of exposure to high concentrations of lead released from the various lead and zinc mining, milling, and smelting facilities located in Viburnum Trend and Herculaneum. This process is distinct from closure and cleanup activities.
The natural resource trustees, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, will hold public information sessions on March 2, 2020 in Viburnum, Missouri, and March 3, 2020 in Herculaneum, Missouri, at 6 p.m. at the locations below to present the draft plans.
Viburnum, Missouri: March 2, 2020, 6-8 PM
Viburnum City Hall
1 Missouri Ave
Viburnum, MO 65566
Herculaneum, Missouri: March 3, 2020, 6-8 PM
Herculaneum City Hall
1 Parkwood Ct.
Herculaneum, MO 63048
The Viburnum Trend is an active lead and zinc mining district within Southeast Missouri comprised of 10 mines and related facilities centered in Reynolds and Iron counties. Historically, material mined in the Viburnum Trend was processed at the Buick smelter and Glover smelters. Mining in the Viburnum Trend is ongoing, and the district remains a major producer of metals, including lead and zinc.
The Herculaneum Lead Smelter facility covers approximately 35 acres with an adjacent 24-acre area used for storing slag, a glassy waste product of the metallurgical smelting process. The smelter continuously operated as a primary lead smelter for over 120 years, from 1882 until 2013.
As part of the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District and Herculaneum Smelter Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration processes, the natural resource trustees assessed contaminant-related injuries to natural resources such as surface water, sediment and aquatic organisms and migratory birds. The ultimate goal of this process is to replace, restore, rehabilitate or acquire the equivalent of injured natural resources and resource services lost due to the release of hazardous substances.
As part of the natural resource damage assessment process, in 2013, the trustees solicited public comments on a draft Southeast Missouri Ozarks Regional Restoration Plan. The final plan identified a preferred alternative to restore injured natural resources and to establish criteria for selecting projects to implement such restoration alternatives in the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District, including the Viburnum Trend. The trustees selected an alternative (Alternative D) which included a combination of restoration activities and projects to accomplish restoration goals at or near the sites of injury. The restoration projects in the draft plans are consistent with the regional restoration plan and support the trustees’ goals, including offsetting injuries to natural resources. These restoration projects are anticipated to provide the following natural resource benefits:
- Donation and conservation of terrestrial habitattotaling approximately 1,100 acres of forested habitat for long-term stewardship.
- Restorationof upland terrestrial habitat at the Buick Resource Recycling Facility and Sweetwater Facilityenhancing and restoring approximately 840 acres of contaminated habitat for the benefit of migratory birds
- Capping and habitat restoration of 1,000 acres of barren mine waste tailings in the Viburnum Trend
- Aquatic habitat restoration in up to 10 miles of streams in the Viburnum Trend to benefit crayfish and nongame fish.
Notice of the release of the draft restoration plans and environmental assessment was published in the Federal Register today. Public comments on the draft restoration plans and environmental assessment will be accepted by through April 6, 2020. After the comment period closes, the trustees will review the comments and make changes as necessary.
Under federal law, federal and state agencies and Native American tribes are authorized to act as trustees on behalf of the public for natural resources they own, manage or control. In this role, trustees assess and recover damages or implement restoration projects to compensate for injuries to natural resources due to hazardous substance releases. The Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration regulations encourage the participation of potentially responsible parties in the assessment process.
Learn more at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Southeast Missouri NRDA website, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the DOI document library for the Viburnum Trend and the DOI document library for Herculaneum.
