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Assessment and Restoration

From Superfund sites to oil spills, OR&R is responsible for evaluating and restoring damaged coastal and estuarine habitats. Through NOAA's Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program, OR&R provides permanent expertise to assess and restore natural resources injured by releases of oil and hazardous substances, as well as by physical impacts, such as ship groundings in National Marine Sanctuaries. Take a look at these examples of OR&R's work in protecting and restoring habitat.

Scientists sampling sediments at Federal Creosote Superfund site.

Photo: Restored wetland in Port Arthur, Texas.

Scientist samples sediments after PEPCO spill.

Photo: Assessing marsh damage in Louisiana.

Scientists Sampling Sediments at Federal Creosote Superfund Site in New Jersey

Scientists gather sediment samples along the Millstone River to assess the extent of contamination from the Federal Creosote Superfund Site in Manville, N.J. (NOAA)

photo: NOAA

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Sampling Fiddler Crabs in Puerto Rico

Scientists collect fiddler crabs on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, in 2008 as part of a study conducted by NOAA to characterize chemical concentrations of hazardous substances in both land and fiddler crabs. (NOAA)

photo: NOAA

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Water Celery in the Hudson River

Water celery is the dominant aquatic vegetation in the Upper Hudson River (N.Y.) and serves as important foraging, nursery, and sheltering habitat for a variety of invertebrates, fish, and wildlife. The vegetation here was photographed in 2004. (NOAA)

photo: NOAA

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Emergent Wetland Plants

Emergent wetland plants, such as great burreed, pickerelweed and white pond lily, grow along the Griffin Island Causeway (N.Y.) in 2004. These plants comprise the fringing riverine wetlands of the upper freshwater Hudson River, which includes the backwater area behind Griffin Island. (NOAA)

photo: NOAA

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Assessing Impacts to Mussels from Response-related Boat Traffic

Following an oil spill on the Kalamazoo River in Michigan in 2010, scientists assessed impacts to mussel shells from response-related boat traffic. (NOAA)

photo: NOAA

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Assessing Damage After a Diesel Fuel Spill in Alaska

Scientists assess damage to the environment after a diesel fuel spill in the Aleutian Islands in 2010. (NOAA)

photo: NOAA

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Restored Wetland in Texas

Hazardous substances released over time from a Gulf of Mexico oil refinery required NOAA and its partners to restore intertidal marsh at the Lower Neches Water Management Area in Port Arthur, Texas. Photographed here in 2006. (NOAA)

photo: NOAA

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McLane Dam at the Fletcher Superfund Site

Downstream view over the McLane Dam at the Fletcher Superfund Site in Milford, N.H. Here, water was being drawn down behind the McLane Dam in order to take samples from the Souhegan River. River sediment data will help determine the movement of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) downstream from the waste site (a former paint manufacturing facility) and the feasibility of dam removal. (NOAA)

photo: NOAA

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Public Meeting for Deepwater Horizon/BP Stakeholders

As part of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill restoration process, a public meeting is held in March 2011 in Houma, La. (NOAA)

photo: NOAA

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Sampling Sediments After PEPCO Pipeline Leak

After the 2000 pipeline leak of oil from the Chalk Point PEPCO facility into Swanson Creek in Maryland, a scientist samples sediment to determine the impact on bottom-dwelling creatures. (NOAA)

photo: NOAA

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Assessing Marsh Damage in Louisiana

Standing on an oiled marsh island in Louisiana, BP consultants discuss field observations with NOAA's Natural Resources Damage Assessment team while checking for oil from the Deepwater Horizon/BP well blowout in the marsh island's sediment. (NOAA)

photo: NOAA

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Assessment and Restoration

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