The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is requesting applications from land owners or controllers interested in financial assistance to participate in the Upper Pascagoula Water Quality Enhancement Project.

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.

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.

The Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Group has initiated drafting of its first and second post settlement draft restoration plans to address natural resource injuries caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Open Ocean Draft Restoration Plan 1, expected release summer 2018:

• Birds
• Sturgeon

Open Ocean Draft Restoration Plan 2, expected release near the end of calendar year 2018:

• Sea Turtles
• Marine Mammals
• Fish and Water Column Invertebrates
• Mesophotic and Deep Benthic Communities

Both plans will be consistent with the Trustee Council’s programmatic restoration plan and will

Many members of the Deepwater Horizon Trustee Implementation Groups and the Cross-Trustee Monitoring and Adaptive Management work group will participate in the upcoming Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Science Conference in New Orleans.

Members will give presentations covering a host of different topics. We encourage partners and stakeholders who are at the conference to stop by the following sessions.

• February 7 from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.: “Linking monitoring, adaptive management and restoration at the Local, State and Regional Scale”

Including presentations on the recently

Due to the inclement weather and hazardous road conditions in South Louisiana tomorrow, the January 17 Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group’s public meeting scheduled prior to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board meeting in Baton Rouge has been CANCELLED.

The January 17 meeting was originally scheduled for 9 a.m. and was to provide the public opportunity to comment on two Louisiana draft restoration plans released in December, the Draft Recreational Use Plan and the Draft Barataria Strategic Plan.

The Louisiana Trustees are asking the public to attend a meeting on January

Finding a suitable place to build a nest can be a challenge for osprey that live along the Alabama coast. Thanks to an early restoration project approved by the Trustees in late 2015, osprey now have five new nesting platforms to choose from in Mobile and Baldwin counties. The Osprey Restoration in Coastal Alabama project provided these additional locations to increase the nesting success of osprey and help mitigate the injuries they suffered due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The large poles and platforms have been installed by the Alabama Coastal Foundation at Delta Port Marina (Coden)

The Deepwater Horizon Oceanic Fish Restoration Project, which aims to restore a portion of pelagic fish populations in the Gulf of Mexico, began its second year on January 1.

In January 2018, the Trustee Council approved the Monitoring and Adaptive Management (MAM) Manual Version 1.0.

Public comment period starts December 20, Louisiana Trustees will hold a public meeting in New Orleans