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Introduction
Approximately 600 threatened or endangered (Federal and State) and sensitive resource issues have been identified on over 1000 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' dredging projects to date. The Threatened, Endangered, and Sensitive Species Protection and Management System contains information on those species of concern which may be viewed collectively at the division, district, project, or state level. At the taxonomic group level, individual species profiles can be explored for such information as federal and state statuses and state resources, rationales for protection, distribution, habitat, references, and assorted links of interest; Corps information may include dredging concerns, impacts, and documented incidents, environmental windows data, and Corps project locations where the species are known to be of potential concern. Supporting Corps documents, such as District Biological and Environmental Assessments and Biological Opinions, will soon be available for viewing as information is received and uploaded.
An important aspect in the management of threatened, endangered, and sensitive species is the application of environmental windows, which are temporal restrictions on dredging projects when species, biological resources, and habitats are less likely to be adversely affected. Environmental windows are often requested by state and federal agencies and also may be imposed at the Division and/or District level as a management tool for protection. Approximately 80 percent of dredging operations (civil works and O & M) are affected by environmental windows, which are in some circumstances, based on anecdotal documentation and also may vary from District to District (Reine et al. 1998). The goals of the Threatened, Endangered, and Sensitive Species Protection and Management System are to provide an avenue to address contradicting environmental window requirements for species, weak supporting rationales, and data and literature gap requirements.
The environmental windows data on this site, which includes the district, species, window dates, dredge types, and other relevant information, is primarily from Reine et al. (1998). This information will in time be searchable by the parameters mentioned above to establish a useful management tool for sensitive species in relation to dredging and environmental windows. This information management system should also establish issue connections between divisions, districts, and projects that are valuable for pooling resources and implementing successful protection strategies for sensitive species.
This is a new and dynamic site that is continually being populated and updated. Please share your comments, concerns, or any problems encountered.
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