DOE/RL-2011-116 Revision 1 Hanford Site Revegetation Manual Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management P.O. Box 550 Richland, Washington 99352 Approved for Public Release Further Dissemination Unlimited DOE/RL-2011-116 Revision 1 This page intentionally left blank. DOE/RL-2011-116 Revision 1 Hanford Site Revegetation Manual Date Published September 2013 Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management P.O. Box 550 Richland, Washington 99352 By Janis D. Aardal at 11:56 am, Sep 17, 2013 Release Approval Date Approved for Public Release Further Dissemination Unlimited DOE/RL-2011-116 Revision 1 TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by tradename, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof or its contractors or subcontractors This report has been reproduced from the best available copy Printed in the United States of America DOE/RL-2011-116 Revision 1 Summary Revegetation, stabilization, and ecological objectives to meet natural resource damage restoration activities are performed by the various assessment requirements. Hanford Site contractors to support the • Ensure that planning and scheduling of U.S. Department of Energy Richland Operations revegetation and restoration actions are Office (DOE-RL) long-term stewardship goals, performed in a cost-efficient and responsible achieve habitat mitigation, and meet cleanup and manner, and are coordinated to allow for long- revegetation requirements mandated in the range planning required for long-lead items (seed and live plants). Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980. • Ensure that revegetation actions are appropriate Because multiple Hanford Site contractors are and achieve environmental compliance. responsible for conducting various types of • Reduce duplication of restoration actions and revegetation actions, a consistent strategy and avoid, when possible, situations in which approach to revegetation and restoration are restored areas or mitigation sites may be negatively affected by future cleanup actions. needed to improve planning and scheduling of revegetation activities, identify cost savings, avoid This manual describes three different types of duplication, and provide an overall benefit from a revegetation actions and implementation strategies, landscape perspective. each with a different objective for the endpoint or future condition, as noted below: The Hanford Site Revegetation Manual describes the DOE-RL strategy and applies to all actions that occur • Planting to restore native vegetation and habitats on the Hanford Site, unless specifically directed on barren or heavily disturbed areas (excavated otherwise by DOE-RL. It is the DOE-RL policy, that and remediated waste sites). the project or contractor that creates the • Planting to either improve or modify existing disturbance is responsible for planning and communities after natural disturbance, or to performing the revegetation action consistent with provide enhanced habitat for selected wildlife this manual. This manual is not retroactively species. applicable to completed projects; however, the • Planting to provide interim stabilization of bare manual is applicable to actions or disturbances that soils and substrates, until further remediation or are in progress upon publication of this manual. cleanup action is initiated. Interim stabilization refers to planting or stabilizing This manual provides DOE-RL and its contractor’s the soil surface in areas that will be subject to future clear and consistent direction regarding disturbance. For short-term stabilization (less than revegetation, restoration, and stabilization actions to one year), the ground surface may be stabilized meet the following goals: using fixatives or short-lived vegetation covers until • Develop and apply consistent revegetation and final revegetation and restoration actions can be restoration criteria to meet and support the DOE planned and implemented, or until the land area is long-term stewardship goals, contribute to utilized for other purposes. Long-term stabilization wildlife habitat, enhance ecological function on (several years) requires, at a minimum, planting Hanford Site lands, and for consistency with perennial grasses until the site can be fully historic tribal use of the Hanford site vegetation resources. remediated or developed for another purpose. The use of native species is recommended for long-term • Develop revegetation criteria and implement stabilization. revegetation actions that satisfy final CERCLA restoration goals and are consistent with the Revegetation actions to restore native plant Hanford Natural Resource Trustee Council communities are necessary when activities such as waste site cleanup actions and decommissioning Hanford Site Revegetation Manual i DOE/RL-2011-116 Revision 1 have been conducted and the affected lands are left specifications for contracting purposes. Instead, the bare or with little native vegetation cover intact. generic guidelines are intended as a starting point Any type of action that involves clearing the surface for several common situations. The guidelines or of vegetation may ultimately require revegetation to generic specifications include: restore native plant communities. In these cases, • Recommended grass species mixes and seeding restoring a functional plant community dominated rates by locally derived native species is the goal of the • Recommended shrub and forb species for each revegetation action. ecological setting including suggested planting Plant community enhancements or improvements rates or densities are intended to increase the habitat quality and • Considerations for planting techniques, site and value (plant and animal diversity, tribal utility, etc.) soil preparation of a specific site. The objectives may be to increase • Considerations for site maintenance habitat for selected wildlife species, accelerate the • Monitoring guidelines, including success criteria recovery of ecosystems after natural disturbances, for each situation. or improve communities that have been degraded Chapter 4 provides additional information on site through human disturbances or invasion by exotic conditions and limitations that need to be assessed plant species. The use of locally derived native in preparation of a site-specific revegetation plan. species is required for plant community The details include an overview of the Hanford Site enhancement and improvement projects. physical and ecological settings, climate, topography, Chapter 2 provides guidance designed to help soils, and vegetation types and their effect on site- project managers integrate the planning and specific planning. In addition, the methods to implementation of revegetation actions into their address these limitations are also discussed. overall Hanford Site operations and cleanup action Chapter 5 provides a detailed discussion of project planning. Chapter 2 provides information on revegetation planning applicable to different project timelines and schedules for plant or seed scenarios, a discussion of the factors that affect the procurement, timing of field actions, selection and establishment of plants, and an documentation, and long-term project overview of available planting methods and seeding responsibilities, such as monitoring and rates. maintenance. In addition, the importance of the various project team members is discussed, Revegetation site monitoring and management are especially the revegetation specialist, and the need discussed in Chapter 6, which includes an overview for early and regular interaction between the project of measurement methods for plant species manager and the revegetation specialist. A detailed abundance, diversity, and growth. In addition, a checklist for planning revegetation actions is recommended monitoring procedure utilizing a provided, along with a quick reference outline of the nested plot design is described. Information on site-specific revegetation plan contents. management of a revegetation site including provision for protection from human intrusion or Chapter 3 provides guidelines or generic disturbance and from biological factors (weed specifications for use in various combinations of soil invasion or herbivory). Management also includes types and revegetation objectives. Because each regular monitoring of the site, comparison of the site project site presents a unique combination of with predefined success criteria, and if those criteria ecological settings and limiting factors, the generic are not met, implementation of corrective actions. guidelines are not to be used as standalone ii Hanford Site Revegetation Manual DOE/RL-2011-116 Revision 1 Key DOE Guidance Regarding Revegetation • Unless otherwise specifically directed by DOE-RL, the Hanford Site Revegetation Manual applies to all revegetation actions that occur on the Hanford Site. • The project or contractor that creates the disturbance is responsible for planning and performing revegetation consistent with this manual. Disturbance includes any actions that result in the loss of vegetation where an alternative land-use has not been instituted. • All revegetation actions on the Hanford Site will use locally-derived, native species unless specifically authorized by DOE-RL Environmental