Fox River/Green Bay Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Planning
Movement of PCBs from the Lower Fox River throughout Green Bay. Abt Associates’ staff served as the lead contractor supporting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for this multi-million dollar Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) at a PCB-contaminated river and bay system in eastern Wisconsin at the Great Lakes.
Under the direction of the trustees, we assisted with case strategy and case management and implemented technical injury, pathway, economics, and restoration planning studies and analyses. The NRDA pathway determination focused on the sources, transport, and fate of PCBs released into the environment, using PCB fingerprinting techniques, mass balance modeling, physical transport processes, and spatial/temporal trend analysis. The injury determination focused on surface water, fish, and avian resources. Compensable damage determination included a comprehensive recreational fishing survey that captured reductions in value associated with fish contamination.
In addition, Abt staff designed and implemented a comprehensive restoration planning effort to identify, select, scale, and estimate the cost of potential restoration projects. The results of this restoration planning effort were released to the public in a Restoration and Compensation Determination Plan, the first such plan published under the Department of Interior NRDA regulations. Following initial settlements of NRDA claims, we supported the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with an evaluation of restoration progress for implemented projects.
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