The draft Joint Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment provides alternatives describing how the monies from natural resource damage settlements will be used to address natural resource injuries that occurred when polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were released into the environment. Restoration projects outlined in the draft plan include wetland reestablishment or preservation to provide habitat for fish and wildlife species; aquatic habitat quality improvement projects to restore and enhance aquatic habitat and recreational services; and direct resource restoration projects, such as those designed to improve fish reproduction and improvements to outdoor recreational facilities associated with riverine or coastal habitat recreation, appreciation or education. The restoration project categories outlined in the Plan will improve the environmental quality and ecological and public uses of the Lower Fox River and Green Bay environment. The draft plan is being made available to the public under the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration regulations and the National Environmental Policy Act regulations.
Alternatives addressed in the Plan include:
Alternative A (No Action): The co-trustees would not initiate specific actions to restore injured natural resources or compensate the public for losses from ongoing natural resource injuries from the release of PCBs into the environment.
Alternative B: Natural resource-based restoration projects will only be implemented in the assessment area: the 39 miles of the Lower Fox River, adjacent floodplain and ecologically associated uplands, all of Green Bay and adjacent coastal wetlands and tributaries upstream to the first impoundment for both the river and the bay including the adjacent floodplains and ecologically associated uplands.
Alternative C (Proposed Action): Natural resource-based restoration projects will be implemented in the assessment area described in Alternative B and habitats encompassing the lands to the headwaters of the tributaries of the Lower Fox River and Green Bay, and adjacent watersheds that support the ecological balance of bird and mammal species injured in the Lower Fox River and Green Bay system. The complete watershed, including headwaters and subbasins, needs to be addressed to begin restoring the overall ecology of the Lower Fox River and Green Bay and achieve maximum benefit from those restoration projects implemented.
Copies of the draft Joint Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment are available at the Green Bay Field Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service located at 1015 Challenger Court, Green Bay, Wisconsin, 54311; telephone: 920-465-7440. Copies are available for onsite review at the Appleton Public Library, 225 N. Oneida St., Appleton, Wisconsin, Brown County Library, 515 Pine St., Green Bay, Wisconsin, Door County Library, 104 S. Fourth Ave., Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, Oneida Community Library, 201 Elm St., Oneida, Wisconsin, Oshkosh Public Library, 106 Washington Ave. Oshkosh, Wisconsin and the Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington Street, Escanaba, Michigan. The document is also available on the Internet at http://midwest.fws.gov/nepa
Comments on the draft plan are welcome and should be submitted in writing to Colette S. Charbonneau, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1015 Challenger Court, Green Bay, Wisconsin, 54311. Comments should be received no later than October 21, 2002.
The co-trustees have a Memorandum of Agreement which establishes a Trustee Council for implementation of activities in furtherance of their natural resource trust responsibilities with regards to the release of hazardous substances and resulting injury to natural resources, and the restoration of those resources in the Lower Fox River and Green Bay environment. The co-trustees aim to use recovered damages to plan and implement actions appropriate to restore, rehabilitate, replace or acquire the equivalent of natural resources or resource services injured, lost, or destroyed due to the release of PCBs into the environment. The natural resource co-trustees will coordinate their respective authorities, interests, and responsibilities to benefit the Lower Fox River and Green Bay ecosystem, which provides a common supporting ecosystem for natural resources affected.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95 million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses nearly 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 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.
For further information about programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, visit our website at " facehttp://midwest.fws.gov
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