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Colewort Creek Wetland Restoration Environmental Assessment
Lewis and Clark National Historic Park » Colewort Creek Wetland Restoration Environmental Assessment » Document List
The National Park Service (NPS) proposes to work with the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and other partners to restore the salmon habitat and tidal wetlands that comprise the historic landscape at Colewort Creek at the South Clatsop Slough within Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.
At the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the site of Fort Clatsop was a hill above the river surrounded by tidal marsh on both the north and south. These tidelands were diked in the 19th and early 20th centuries and converted from wetland to pastureland. In 1995, the Park worked with partners and the public to complete a General Management Plan/ Environmental Impact Statement. This plan recommends restoring pasturelands to historic tidal wetland conditions where feasible. The Colewort Creek wetland, the subject of this assessment, is located south of the fort hill. Completing this project will contribute to re-creating the historic tidal marsh setting of Fort Clatsop.
Restoration of the historic scene will also restore historic salmon habitat in the Columbia River estuary. The Colewort Creek Wetland Restoration Project will not only improve salmonid habitat within the wetland site itself, but will also have cumulative benefits as part of a larger-scale effort to improve the habitat value and overall function of the Lewis and Clark River basin.
An Environmental Assessment has been prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to provide the decision framework for the following: (1) Analysis of a reasonable range of alternatives to meet management objectives; (2) Evaluation of potential issues and impacts to natural and cultural resources and values and the human environment; and, (3) identification of mitigation measures to lessen the degree of those impacts.
Public comment was open until July 16, 2012.
A Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) was signed on July 26, 2012.
At the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the site of Fort Clatsop was a hill above the river surrounded by tidal marsh on both the north and south. These tidelands were diked in the 19th and early 20th centuries and converted from wetland to pastureland. In 1995, the Park worked with partners and the public to complete a General Management Plan/ Environmental Impact Statement. This plan recommends restoring pasturelands to historic tidal wetland conditions where feasible. The Colewort Creek wetland, the subject of this assessment, is located south of the fort hill. Completing this project will contribute to re-creating the historic tidal marsh setting of Fort Clatsop.
Restoration of the historic scene will also restore historic salmon habitat in the Columbia River estuary. The Colewort Creek Wetland Restoration Project will not only improve salmonid habitat within the wetland site itself, but will also have cumulative benefits as part of a larger-scale effort to improve the habitat value and overall function of the Lewis and Clark River basin.
An Environmental Assessment has been prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to provide the decision framework for the following: (1) Analysis of a reasonable range of alternatives to meet management objectives; (2) Evaluation of potential issues and impacts to natural and cultural resources and values and the human environment; and, (3) identification of mitigation measures to lessen the degree of those impacts.
Public comment was open until July 16, 2012.
A Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) was signed on July 26, 2012.