ESI Program Shares Success With St Lawrence River Partners
JUNE 6, 2022 — Protecting America’s waterways and coastal regions from the effects of oil and chemical spills is a collaborative mission, and OR&R’s Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) program strives to build a community of partners. On May 19, Nicolle Rutherford, ESI Program manager, gave a presentation on the available data and many uses of ESIs for Save the River, an organization in northern New York that serves as the Upper St. Lawrence Riverkeeper.
The ESI dataset for the St. Lawrence River was recently updated in 2021, along with the St. Marys River, giving the region the newest ESI maps in the nation. The St. Lawrence River had previously not been updated since 1985. The presentation was a great opportunity to share this success with local champions such as Save the River, and emphasize the value and benefit of NOAA’s data and services.
Information was also provided about the Great Lakes ESI Act of 2020 and the recent support of ESI updates in the region from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the US Coast Guard Great Lakes National Center of Expertise. We hope to continue speaking with local and regional partners about the benefits of ESI datasets in the future.
For more information, please contact Nicolle.R.Rutherford@noaa.gov.