COMPREHENSIVE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN
Agencies
US Environmental Protection Agency
(Oversight)
New York - New Jersey Harbor
Estuary Program
Summary
The Comprehensive Conservation
and Management Plan (CCMP) is the primary planning document for
the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary Program. One of 21 such plans in the United
States, the CCMP seeks to minimize risks to human health and to restore
and protect the harbor estuary ecosystem.
The final plan for New York/New Jersey addresses the critical issues including habitat and living resources, toxic contamination, dredge material, pathogenic contamination, floatable debris, nutrients and organic enrichment, and rainfall-induced discharges. The plan also provides for public involvement and education, as well as steps for implementation.
The plan first seeks to reduce current loading of pollutants into the ecosystem and to remove accumulations from past discharges. The ecosystem approach of the CCMP takes advantage of modeling studies to identify, mitigate, and prevent future overloads. The plan identifies remediation actions for environmental processes such as algal blooms, atmospheric deposition, coliform levels, and hypoxia - and for sophisticated chemical compounds such as aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
The second
component of the CCMP is habitat protection and restoration. A Habitat
Working Group, in conjunction with public input, has developed a priority
map of sites for acquisition
and restoration. Lead agencies include the NYC Department of Parks
and Recreation, Natural Resources Group. For further information, a
2001 Status Report is available by emailing info@harborestuary.org
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