Ecosystem Restoration under the WRDA of 1996

The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 1996 provides a new Congressional authority by which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may participate in the design and construction of ecosystem restoration and protection projects. In 1996, the U.S. Congress appropriated funds to initiate the Hocking River Basin Environmental Restoration Study under the Corps of Engineers General Investigations Program. The study is being conducted by the Huntington District of the Army Corps of Engineers. The Hocking River is located in southeastern Ohio, in the heart of the northern Appalachia coal mining belt. Streams throughout this region have been severely degraded by acidic drainage from mines abandoned prior to implementation of the Surface Mine Reclamation Act of 1977. The Hocking River Basin Environmental Restoration Study will ultimately lead to a unified watershed restoration plan to ameliorate aquatic habitat resources in this region.