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News and Activities
Eastern Missouri Dioxin Sites Restoration Plan Date Posted: January 8, 2009 The Missouri Ecological Services Field Office, with the assistance of Midwest Region Environmental Contaminants and Contracting Offices, has completed a key restoration action that secures valuable migratory bird habitat in accordance with the Natural Resource Damage Assessment Restoration Plan for the Eastern Missouri Dioxin Sites. The Eastern Missouri Dioxin Sites are 27 residential, commercial, and industrial sites (including the infamous Times Beach) centered around St. Louis that had been sprayed with dioxin-contaminated waste oil for dust suppression in the 1960s and 70s. In 1991, the Missouri Field Office negotiated a Natural Resource Damages settlement with the responsible parties in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Justice. The 2008 restoration plan calls for a combined approach of purchasing land and securing conservation easements to compensate the public for injury to migratory birds from dioxin. In December 2008, the Field Office provided $250,000 of restoration settlement funds to the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) to purchase 93 acres of high quality terrestrial and aquatic habitats in the LaBarque Creek watershed in Jefferson County, Missouri (20 miles southwest of St. Louis). The Field Office's participation in this acquisition advances important conservation efforts in the LaBarque Creek Conservation Opportunity Area (COA) which is one of the keystone COA's established by MDC in its Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy. The acquisition of this biologically diverse area was made possible through a joint funding partnership between the Missouri Field Office, MDC, and the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation
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