摘要: |
The San Francisco Bay/Delta Estuary is one of the most critical maritime thoroughfares in the United States, supporting international trade, commercial and recreational fishing and water recreation. At the same time, the Bay/Delta system is the largest and most significant estuary along the entire west coast of North and South America. Estuaries are some of the most productive ecosystems in the world and also the most degrade by human activities. Dredging and dredge material management are important issues to address when attempting to minimize or eliminate negative impacts of past activity on the Estuary. To address some of those negative impacts on the Bay/Delta environment, in 1989, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and several State of California agencies that regulate dredge material in San Francisco Bay, joined together with navigation interest and the public in a cooperative effort to establish a comprehensive Long Term Management Strategy (LTMS) for the placement and use of dredge material in the Bay region. The goal of the program is to develop a regionally acceptable, technically feasible, environmentally suitable and economically prudent approach to managing the Bay Area’s dredging and disposal needs over the next 50 years. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a 11 year process which has developed and is now implementing this Long Term Strategy to maintain those channels necessary for navigation in San Francisco, maximize the use of dredge material as a beneficial resource and establish a cooperating permitting framework. |