The Open Ocean Trustees are hosting a webinar on April 12, 2022. During the webinar we will highlight updates on two important restoration planning efforts: the third Open Ocean restoration plan, and strategic planning for fish and water column invertebrates.

We will also share updates on our other restoration efforts and upcoming public meetings. This webinar will include an opportunity for questions and answers following the presentation. 

The webinar is open to everyone; we encourage your attendance and participation. 

Date, Time and Registration: 

• Date: April 12, 2022
• Time: 12:00 –

The Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group is proposing several restoration projects to restore wetlands, coastal, and nearshore habitats to address injuries caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Those projects are included in a draft restoration plan now open for public comment for 30 days through April 18, 2022. The trustees will hold a public webinar on the plan on April 5 at 12:00 p.m. CT.

The plan, “Draft Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment #8: Restoration of Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats” (PDF, 507 pages), evaluates six projects. Four of those projects are

The Texas Trustee Implementation Group has released its Draft Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment #2. This plan includes restoration projects to partially compensate for the injury to natural resources caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The Alabama Trustee Implementation Group has released a draft supplemental environmental assessment to the 2014 Final Phase III Early Restoration Plan. The Alabama Swift Tract Living Shoreline Project: Supplemental Environmental Assessment (PDF, 28 pages) is available for public comment for 30 days through March 28, 2022.  

The trustees are proposing to relocate rock material in the vicinity of the Alabama Swift Tract Living Shoreline Project to another nearby breakwater structure. The rock material may have been placed in the current locations as part of the project but could potentially

The Alabama Trustee Implementation Group posted an online video presentation to represent their 2021 annual public meeting on December 9, 2021. The presentation included updates on the Alabama Trustee Implementation Group’s ongoing work implementing restoration projects.

The video presentation was available online on the State of Alabama’s Coastal Restoration website and YouTube page on December 9, 2021, and public comments were accepted that day via e-mail. No comments on the Alabama Trustee Implementation Group’s ongoing work were received.

Materials from the video presentation are now

The Alabama Trustee Implementation Group has approved a Final Supplemental Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment to the Alabama Restoration Plan II, released in 2018.

This plan—the Alabama Weeks Bay Land Acquisition (Lloyd Tract): Supplemental Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment (PDF, 47 pages)—calls for acquisition and restoration of the Lloyd Tract, an approximately 60-acre parcel of land, wetlands, and waterways in the Weeks Bay watershed. The area will become part of the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

This project will use the Wetlands, Coastal, and

The Open Ocean Trustees and partners are continuing progress on the mesophotic and deep benthic communities restoration projects selected in the 2019 Open Ocean restoration plan.  Recently, we convened a wide range of deep-sea experts and stakeholders to participate in restoration planning. Beginning this spring, the project teams will conduct multiple expeditions—totaling almost 200 days at sea—to map, assess, monitor, and sample habitats in priority areas across the north-central Gulf of Mexico.

Biologic communities using these habitats are complex ecosystems on the ocean floor. They

Approximately 99 acres of property on Fort Morgan Peninsula in Alabama was preserved for conservation on December 28, 2021, thanks to a joint effort with the Regionwide Trustee Implementation Group—including trustees from the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Department of the Interior—and The Nature Conservancy.

The Texas Trustee Implementation Group held its 2021 annual public meeting on December 1, 2021 via webinar. The presentation included an update on the work we have accomplished since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. We highlighted a few of our ongoing restoration projects and presented plans for future efforts. During the webinar, trustee staff also hosted a question and answer session.

Links to the presentation and question and answer session are below.

• Texas Trustee Implementation Group 2021 Public Meeting presentation (PDF, 24 pages)
• Texas Trustee Implementation Group 2021 Presentation

The Mississippi Trustee Implementation Group is beginning the process of restoration planning for our Restoration Plan 4 and would like your input regarding natural resource restoration project ideas. This request for project ideas is open for 30 days through March 7, 2022.

Restoration types in Restoration Plan 4 may include:

• Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats
• Nutrient Reduction
• Provide and Enhance Recreational Opportunities

More details about the Restoration Types and Approaches we are considering, including the location of related information in Chapter 5 of the Trustees’ 2016