The trustees have investigated potential sites where restoration may be
performed to compensate for the loss of natural resource services due to the
contamination in Castro Cove. The removal of contaminated sediments under the
terms of the Water Board’s cleanup order will itself, over time, improve the
biological function of the Castro Cove ecosystem and thus restore injured
natural resources. However, the cleanup does not fully address the natural
resource injuries and lost services as a result of the contamination. The
trustees have evaluated potential projects that would compensate for the
interim loss of natural resource services, both historically and into the
future.
The trustees contacted numerous agencies, organizations, and interest groups
planning or aware of various habitat improvement projects in the San Pablo
Bay/San Francisco Bay area. The trustees evaluated
potential restoration projects against several criteria and a draft Damage
Assessment and Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment (DARP/EA) has been
prepared. Preferred sites are those that hold the potential to restore natural
resource services of the type injured in Castro Cove, i.e. shallow subtidal and
intertidal mudflat and marsh habitat, within reasonable proximity to Castro
Cove, i.e. within the North Bay ecological sub-region as identified in the
San Francisco Estuary Baylands Ecosystem Goals Report.
The trustees released the public draft DARP/EA on November 25, 2008, with a
comment period extending from that date until January 9, 2009. A copy of the
draft DARP/EA, as well as a fact sheet, may be obtained through the links
below.
