The Alabama Trustee Implementation Group has approved a Final Supplemental Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment to the Alabama Restoration Plan II, released in 2018.
This plan—the Alabama Weeks Bay Land Acquisition (Lloyd Tract): Supplemental Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment (PDF, 47 pages)—calls for acquisition and restoration of the Lloyd Tract, an approximately 60-acre parcel of land, wetlands, and waterways in the Weeks Bay watershed. The area will become part of the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.
This project will use the Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats restoration type funds from the now terminated Harrod Tract project to acquire the Lloyd Tract. The parcel is located along two tributaries of the Fish River, slightly upstream from the Harrod Tract.
The final plan includes details about the proposed land acquisition and initial restoration activities. It also includes an analysis of the anticipated restoration benefits and environmental impacts of the proposed action, which are consistent with those identified and evaluated in the Alabama Restoration Plan II. This plan was made available for public comment on December 6, 2021, with the comment period closing on January 6, 2022.
The final plan and environmental assessment reflects revisions to the draft plan resulting from the public comment period. The plan aims to partially compensate the public for injuries to natural resources and resource services in the Alabama Restoration Area and is consistent with the Trustees’ Programmatic Restoration Plan.