Project Page

Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge Hydrologic Restoration - Planning and Design

Implementing Organization

US Department of the Interior

Overview

DWH Project Funding

$500,000

Known Leveraged Funding

$0

Funding Organization

Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees (NRDA)

Funding Program

Natural Resource Damage Assessment NRDA

Details

Project Category

Environmental

Project Actions

Water Quality Restoration and Maintenance

Targeted Resources

Wetlands/Marshes/Estuaries

Project Description

The Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) has approximately 143 miles of roads and trails, consisting mostly of primary and secondary roads used for access and management. All the maintained roads are former logging roads constructed to access timber stands and built using onsite material excavated from either side of the road-bed. This created roadside ditches which remain today. Approximately 25 miles of these roads and trails are not maintained, not needed, or are no longer utilized by the NWR. Within this network of roads and trails, the NWR maintains more than 100 culverts, five concrete bridges, and 46 low-water crossings. This project will analyze existing information and develop a hydrologic model to identify road sections that, when removed, would help restore hydrologic connections on the NWR. After identifying the appropriate locations, a future phase of this project would include constructing/installing culverts and low-water crossings, or removing sections of road at locations recommended based on the hydrologic assessment. As a result, water that has been historically impounded by the system of roads and ditches in the upper watershed would be released and would flow overland and into the estuary. The Planning and Design project will provide the necessary information to allow the Department of the Interior (DOI) to plan a successful future project to implement restoration actions at the recommended locations on the Lower Suwannee NWR, as well as provide partners responsible for managing adjoining conservation lands with recommended management actions to further improve hydrologic conditions in the watershed. T...click on "More Info" link below

Contact

Luke Anthis
(251) 517-8002
luke_anthis@fws.gov
Project Website
Project Partners

None

Affiliated Institutions

For official trustee information regarding the Deepwater Horizon NRDA, including information regarding the NRDA process and the status of projects, see https://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/

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