On June 26, 2014, OR&R Regional Resource Coordinator Simeon Hahn participated in a kick-off event for Great Outdoors America Week at Bladensburg Park on the Anacostia River in Maryland and Washington, D.C.

The Urban Waters Federal Partnership (UWFP), part of President Obama's America's Great Outdoors Initiative, partnered with the Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK) in building opportunities for Americans to get outdoors. NOAA is a signatory member of the UWFP which specifically targets urban water areas and disadvantaged environmental justice communities.

Wilderness Inquiry, in support of the UWFP, provided free canoeing led by experienced Wilderness Inquiry guides. The event provided other educational activities, including one where the Urban Waters Federal Partnership provided information on NOAA activities and programs in Washington, D.C. and Maryland. The Urban Waters Federal Partnership recognizes and builds on local efforts and leadership, by engaging and serving community partners and working with local officials and community-based organizations to leverage area resources and stimulate local economies to create local jobs.

The OR&R Assessment and Restoration Division is working with the District of Columbia Department of the Environment as a natural resource trustee providing support for remedial investigations and natural resource damage assessments for several sites on the Anacostia River that have contributed to toxic contaminants in sediments and fish in the river. OR&R previously compiled a regional spatial dataset of sediment contamination in the Anacostia from over a decade’s worth of investigations, and is currently helping to develop sampling plans, ecological and human health risk assessments, remedial strategies, and natural resource damage assessments which will support restoration activities in the future.

Contact Simeon.Hahn@noaa.gov for further information.

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