Funding and technical assistance provided by the Office of Habitat Conservation is beneficial to habitat and natural resources. However, every federal action requires an assessment of its environmental impacts, in accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), to make certain that all impacts, both beneficial and adverse, direct and indirect, are fully considered in the decision making process. For NOAA actions, this assessment must also comply with NOAA’s policies, requirements, and procedures for complying with NEPA.
Programmatic Environmental Compliance
The Office of Habitat Conservation uses programmatic environmental compliance documents to increase efficiency and reduce redundancy in conducting environmental analyses for a large number of similar federal actions. The Restoration Center completed programmatic NEPA documents in 2002, 2006, and 2015 (Restoration Center Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement) to assess the impacts of its habitat restoration activities, reduce administrative costs, and maximize program efficiency. We also use programmatic analyses of impacts to threatened and endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. Some federal actions fall outside the scope or impacts described in our programmatic documents. These actions receive individual analyses of their environmental impacts. The list below contains restoration-focused environmental compliance documents we currently use.
National Environmental Policy Act
Endangered Species Act
National Environmental Policy Act Compliance for Habitat Restoration
Through funding, technical assistance, or as a Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustee, the Restoration Center supports numerous habitat restoration projects each year. When these projects qualify as federal actions, they are assessed for environmental impacts in accordance with the NEPA process.
We use the RC PEIS to provide timely, complete analysis of the environmental impacts of our restoration activities. All projects that receive NEPA documentation under the RC PEIS are evaluated through a multi-step process involving habitat restoration specialists, agency NEPA experts, and the Restoration Center’s top officials. To enhance transparency, you can download a list of projects that received their NEPA documentation under the RC PEIS (PDF, 25 pages).
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Veteran intern Antonio Jones at an oyster farm in Drayton Harbor, Washington, checking traps for European Invasive Green Crab. Credit: Northwest Straits Commission
Sustainably grown, organic Alaskan kelp is harvested at the Seagrove Kelp Co. farm in Doyle Bay. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Jordan Hollarsmith
Carrie Selberg Robinson (front row, right) at groundbreaking ceremony for Herring River Restoration Project in Cape Cod, MA.
Klamath River. Credit: Shane Anderson.