Anacostia Ecosystem Initiative 1999
- Published:
- April 1, 1990
- Originator:
- Chesapeake Bay Program
- EPA Number:
- EPA 903-B-99-003
Origins of the project - EPA Region III's direct and active involvement in the Anacostia began with its 1992 Report tp Congress. Official kick-off of the Anacostia Ecosystem Initiative occurred in 1994 and followed a White House task force recommendation for a stronger and more coordinated Federal role. EPA Region III has managed its Ancostia efforts out of the Chesapeake Bay Program Office since 1992. A study completed in 1990 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determined that the main causes of the ecological degradtion of the Anacostia River were lack of environmental controls during extensive urbanization in the Twentiethcentury and past activities of the Corps of Engineers. Between 1902 and 1960, flood control projects, constructing sea walls on both sides of the Anacostia River, and filling in "swamps" destroyed approximately 2,600 acres of wetland, 99,000 linear feet of aquatic habitat and 700 acres of bottomland hardwood forest in the Anacostia watershed.