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NOV. 12, 2024 — Over the past year, the NOAA Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP) and the Coastal Response Research Center at the University of New Hampshire partnered with Louisiana Sea Grant to launch a series of resources to assist communities following natural disasters.
OR&R Weekly Report
The Office of Response and Restoration publishes this weekly round-up of news and information of interest to our partners, stakeholders, and team members. Click to subscribe
NOV. 12, 2024 — Staff from the NOAA Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) Assessment and Restoration Division and Emergency Response Division attended the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) North America annual conference in Fort Worth, Texas from October 20–24, 2024. Attended by more than 1,500 scientists, the conference included 1,088 presentations—21 of which were co-authored by NOAA scientists—across 184 scientific sessions.
NOV. 12, 2024 — The NOAA Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) welcomed four interns from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES): Jalynn Aaron and Kayla Brown, both majoring in psychology, and Mikaela Blackwood and Amari Dupree, both majoring in biology. From this November 2024 through April 2025, interns will remotely support OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division with work on natural resource damage assessment and restoration.
May 2020
MAY 11, 2020 — The Office of Response and Restoration has rolled out a weekly lecture series called, “You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know.” Every Thursday at 3:00 PM ET, an expert presents on a topic related to emergency response or environmental protection.
MAY 11, 2020 — On April 29, Nancy Wallace, Director of the Marine Debris Program, and Peter Murphy, Alaska Regional Coordinator, spoke with district and D.C. staff from the office of Senator Lisa Murkowski (AK).
MAY 4, 2020 — To provide a glimpse into what NOAA scientists do in the Office of Response and Restoration, two OR&R scientists—marine biologist Gary Shigenaka and chemist Charlie Henry—recently led a NOAA Live! Webinar for students, The Job of a NOAA Oil Spill Response Scientist.
MAY 4, 2020 — On April 22-24, Sherry Lippiatt (California Regional Coordinator) and Carlie Herring (Research Coordinator) with the Marine Debris Program participated in the NOAA Citizen Science Workshop.
MAY 4, 2020 — Scientists from the Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) Ecotoxicology Program and OR&R traveled from Seattle to Newport, Oregon, to join local scientists at the NWFSC Hatfield Marine Center to process more than 1400 juvenile Chinook salmon in a one day sampling intensive.
MAY 4, 2020 — After thoughtful and extensive deliberation, NOAA and Washington Sea Grant made the difficult decision to cancel this year's NOAA Science Camp program.
April 2020
APRIL 27, 2020 — On April 16, the director of the Marine Debris Program (MDP), Nancy Wallace, and other MDP team members participated in a phone call with Congressional staff from the offices of Senator Kaine (VA) and Senator Murkowski (AK) to discuss derelict fishing gear removal activities.
APRIL 27, 2020 — The Chemical Aquatic Fate and Effects (CAFE) team is excited to announce that the CAFE database was recently released as a web-based program.
APRIL 27, 2020 — The draft Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan for the Refugio Beach Oil Spill NRDA was released for public comment on Wednesday April 22, 2020.
APRIL 27, 2020 — On April 21, the NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP) welcomed Tanya Torres as a California Sea Grant Marine Debris Extension Fellow.
APRIL 27, 2020 — Periodically over the years, U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) active duty members interested in learning more about spill science will shadow a Scientific Support Coordinator or other member of OR&R’s Emergency Response Division under the USCG Marine Environmental Response Industry Training Program.
APRIL 27, 2020 — On April 16, the NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP), in collaboration with Sea Grant, awarded $350,000 to eight Sea Grant programs for projects that will research, prevent and remove marine debris in U.S. waters.
APRIL 20, 2020 — On April 9, the Marine Debris Program’s Gulf of Mexico Regional Coordinator, Caitlin Wessel, gave a virtual guest lecture for the University of South Alabama.
APRIL 20, 2020 — LTJG Hayley Betker recently came on board at OR&R’s Emergency Response Division (ERD) as the new Regional Response Officer (RRO) for the West Coast.
APRIL 20, 2020 — On April 10, Dr. Amy V. Uhrin, Chief Scientist for the NOAA Marine Debris Program, celebrated her 20th anniversary of working for NOAA.
APRIL 20, 2020 — OR&R presented The Ups and Downs of UxS Technology in Emergency Response and Damage Assessment in the Marine Environment: NOAA OR&R Case Studies and Standards Development, to the EPA Emergency Management Information Technology spring meeting on UxS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) deployment.
APRIL 20, 2020 — April 15, 2020 - OR&R is pleased to announce the release of the Final Workshop Report from the “Leveraging Science and Academic Engagement during Incidents” workshop held in Tiburon, California, in June 2019.
APRIL 13, 2020 — On April 9, 2020, LCDR Michael Doig presented at the 28th Annual Joint Safety and Environmental Professional Development Symposium (PDS).
APRIL 13, 2020 — Collin Buckner is a Disaster Planning Associate with the DPP. Located in Mobile, Alabama at the Disaster Response Center (DRC), Collin is responsible for coordination efforts throughout the Northeast as well as the Gulf of Mexico.
APRIL 13, 2020 — Last week the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) announced the Bin Program 2020 Request for Proposals from the Fishing for Energy partnership.
APRIL 6, 2020 — As NOAA's internal response to COVID-19 continues, the agency is adapting quickly implementing new protocols and policies.
APRIL 6, 2020 — On April 2, the Marine Debris Program released the 2020 Florida Marine Debris Reduction Plan.
APRIL 6, 2020 — Autumn Lotze, Natural Resource and Community Recovery Specialist, and Genwest contractor, recently participated in the Pacific Risk Management ‘Ohana Conference (PRiMO) on behalf of the Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP).
APRIL 6, 2020 — On Wednesday, March 25, the NOAA Marine Debris Program shared a blog outlining educational content about marine debris available online.
APRIL 6, 2020 — On March 13, the National Ocean Service (NOS) was awarded a Department of Commerce (DOC) Green Grant.
APRIL 6, 2020 — OR&R’s Emergency Response Division has completed a guidance document to help oil spill responders and planners better manage sunken (or submerged) oil mats, known as SOMs. SOMs can form near the shoreline under a range of circumstances and present unique and difficult challenges in oil spill response.
March 2020
MARCH 30, 2020 — The NOS Disaster Preparedness Program continues to provide Incident Coordination for the NOS Incident Management Team (IMT).
MARCH 30, 2020 — On March 17, NOAA’s Marine Debris Program participated in the virtual 2020 Virginia Marine Debris Leadership Team Meeting to update Virginia's Marine Debris Reduction Plan hosted by Virginia’s Coastal Zone Management Program and Longwood University.
MARCH 30, 2020 — As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, NOAA's Emergency Response Division (ERD) staff are working remotely, though our staff continues to take calls and to provide our core service of scientific support during spills and other emergencies.
MARCH 30, 2020 — NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration and the Restoration Center are pleased to announce a new publication in the journal Shore & Beach that highlights our work and leadership on long-term data management in the Gulf of Mexico.