NOAA Earth Day 2010

NOAA and Partners Celebrate Earth Day at Recovery Act Restoration Sites

For Earth Day 2010, NOAA is taking a look at the successful implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. NOAA provided $167 million in Recovery Act funding to 50 high-quality, high-priority coastal restoration projects around the country. The efforts are helping to jump-start the nation’s economy by supporting thousands of jobs as well as restore fish and wildlife habitat that people often take for granted.

Environmental Hero Awards

On Earth Day NOAA presented its 2010 Environmental Hero Award to eight individuals and two organizations, honoring a wide diversity of people and groups, from Bermuda to Guam, involved in all kinds of environmental activities, from creating documentaries on ocean acidification to restoring a Hawaiian bay. Click here to view the 2010 Environmental Hero award winners.


Coastal Restoration and Recovery Nationwide

Since June 2009, more than 30 of the 50 coastal restoration Recovery Act projects have broken ground, with the rest preparing to start and finish throughout the next year and a half. The 50 projects are supporting thousands of short-term and long-term jobs. They support the equivalent of more than 250 full-time jobs as of the last report and are expected to support the equivalent of an additional 1,000 full-time jobs before they are completed.

Below are the Recovery Act project locations where NOAA will come together with local partners to celebrate Earth Day. 

 Coastal restoration Recovery Act projects
 Coastal restoration Recovery Act projects with Earth Day events

April 17

Magnolia Marsh Wetland Restoration – Huntington Beach, California

NOAA provided $3.3 million in Recovery Act funding to the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy for the project. The restored tidal flow will bring back important nursery habitat for many fish, including California halibut. This will lead to other benefits, including improved fishing and tourism.

April 19

North Carolina Estuary Habitat Restoration – Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

NOAA provided $5 million in Recovery Act funding to the North Carolina Coastal Federation for the project. This project will create supplemental employment for oystermen and other water-related industries to rebuild 49 acres of oyster reefs across coastal North Carolina. This project will move oyster restoration plans in North Carolina ahead by several years, speeding the recovery of the species and providing the multitude of services derived from oyster reefs.

April 21

Removal of Derelict Fishing Gear in Puget Sound – Seattle, Washington

NOAA provided $4.5 million in Recovery Act funding to the Northwest Straits Foundation for a project that is employing divers and sonar operators to locate and remove roughly 90 percent of the more than 3,000 lost and abandoned gill nets weighing 200 metric tons from Puget Sound.

April 22

Muskegon Lake Wetland Restoration

The Great Lakes Commission was awarded $10 million to restore 24 acres of wetland and stabilize shoreline at 10 separate locations around Muskegon Lake. The project will help meet established restoration targets for the recognized loss of fish and wildlife habitat.

The Grand Isle and St. Bernard Parish Shoreline Restoration – Grand Isle, Louisiana

The Nature Conservancy was awarded $4 million to restore marsh and protect coastal and marine habitats. The project is building more than five acres of bioengineered oyster reef and will protect 3.4 miles of vulnerable shorelines along Grand Isle and St. Bernard Marsh. The reef that is being constructed will protect more than 350 acres of emergent marsh, and will benefit more than 100 marine species associated with oyster reefs in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Lincoln Park Wetland Restoration – Jersey City, New Jersey

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has been awarded $10.6 million in NOAA Coastal and Marine Habitat Restoration funding under the Recovery Act to restore marsh and protect coastal and marine habitats. The project had been in the works for 10 years, and this funding was the catalyst that finally set this project in motion to restore the area’s native salt marsh community to improve the overall ecological health of the Hackensack River ecosystem. It is also creating an ecological oasis just outside of New York City that will be open to the public, providing critical green space so important to urban communities.

Maunalua Bay Reef Restoration Project – Maunalua Bay, Hawaii

NOAA provided $3.4 million in Recovery Act funding to The Nature Conservancy and in cooperation with community non-profit Mālama Maunalua for the project. This effort will work in Maunalua Bay, Hawaii to restore coral reefs through manual removal of invasive alien algae from 22 acres of nearshore waters.

April 23

Florida Keys Threatened Coral Reef Recovery and Restoration

NOAA provided $3.3 million in Recovery Act funding to The Nature Conservancy to recover the threatened Acropora coral species by transplanting nursery-grown coral fragments to 34,000 square meters of reef that were damaged by various factors, including ship groundings.