DOI Project #NE010; Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief; Restore Round Hill Salt Marsh, Dartmouth MA

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This is an announcement for issuing a single source financial assistance award to the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game ¿ Division of Ecological Restoration (MADER). This announcement is for notification purposes only. The intent of the award is to restore approximately 11.6 acres of salt marsh and associated tidal creeks through the removal of historic wetland fill and the replacement of an undersized, non-functioning culvert on Ray Peck Drive in the town of Dartmouth, Bristol County, MA. The project will restore natural tidal flow and site conditions in order to re-establish native estuarine vegetation. This award is issued to provide financial assistance to collaboratively developed priority projects in Hurricane Sandy disaster areas that will restore environmental resources and reduce flood hazards through collaborative efforts with local communities. The project is expected to improve overall flood resiliency to the project site and an adjacent 70-acre tidal marsh, by enhancing ecosystem functions, including the restoration of salt marsh vegetation, sediment transport, flood storage, fish and wildlife habitats, as well as reductions in potential flood damage to public and private infrastructure during future storm events. This project was previously vetted and approved for funding by the Department of the Interior. The appropriation for this project is the Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriation Act of 2013, Public Law 113-2. Criteria for funding was based on the project¿s ability to yield the greatest return on investment by taking advantage of existing science and regional planning tools for resiliency and by working with states, cities, communities, and partners who contribute to the goals restoring and rebuilding national wildlife refuges and other federal public assets: and to increase resiliency and the capacity of coastal habitat and infrastructure and to withstand future storms and to minimize the damage incurred. Site resiliency will be obtained through the removal of historic fill, restoration of a tidal creek system, and the establishment of salt marsh elevations that are in equilibrium with the tidal regime at the project area. Additionally, restored tidal exchange will improve water quality, enhance fish passage, and restore conditions that will promote the restoration of subtidal habitats and intertidal salt marsh vegetation in the area that had been filled historically. Ecosystem function into the future will be achieved by restoring conditions that will allow a tidal creek system to develop that is in dynamic equilibrium with expected changes in coastal hydrology, thereby providing habitat resiliency for potential impacts to fish and wildlife habitats. The Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game - MADER is the recipient of this award due to their unique qualification to complete the project. This project is authorized by the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, Public Law 113-2.

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