The Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Group greatly appreciates all the ideas provided before the end of the Open Ocean project idea submittal period in May of last year. As highlighted during our April 2017 webinar, we organized submitted ideas and screened them based on the Trustee Council’s programmatic restoration plan and our restoration goals and priorities.
Ideas emerging from this initial screening are being reviewed and considered for additional development and evaluation. We received hundreds, and a number of them are helping shape project alternatives that will be included in two draft restoration plans available for public comment later in 2018.
Looking ahead, we will propose projects in Open Ocean Draft Restoration Plan 1, expected to be released for public comment in summer 2018. In Draft Restoration Plan 1 for birds and sturgeon restoration types, we may consider the following approaches:
- Birds: Restore and conserve bird nesting and foraging habitat; establish or re-establish breeding colonies; and prevent incidental bird mortality.
- Sturgeon: identify, restore, protect and provide access to spawning habitat, juvenile winter foraging habitat, and adult and sub-adult foraging habitat.
Stay tuned to our webpage or sign up for our Gulf Spill Restoration email bulletins for future updates.
Learn more about the notice to initiate Open Ocean Restoration Planning >