Franklin county projects part of 58 million dollar early restoration proposals

The Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees have proposed $58 million dollars in early restoration projects for Florida including projects to help restore the oyster reefs in the Apalachicola bay.

The projects include 5 and a half million dollars for Oyster Reef Restoration in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Bay and Franklin counties.

Another 800 thousand is earmarked for a Living Shoreline Project at Cat Point, and 2.7 million dollars would be used for seagrass recovery projects in Gulf, Franklin and Bay counties.

Other projects on the list include 3 million dollars for Scallop Enhancement for Increased Recreational Fishing opportunites in the Florida Panhandle including Franklin county and 880 thousand dollars for Beach Nourishment at Shell Point in Wakulla County.

This would be the third phase of projects - To date, Phases I and II of early restoration projects for Florida have totaled $11.4 million. 

The earlier projects include several boat ramps, a dune restoration project and projects to protect and restore shorebird and sea turtle nesting habitat.

With the additional projects, Florida will have allocated nearly $69 million dollars of the $100 million available through the early restoration process defined in the April 2011 Framework Agreement between BP and the Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees . 

http://www.oysterradio.com e-mail manager@oysterradio.com with comments