Grants Process Begins for Return of Natural Resources at Oak Ridge Reservation

Officials overseeing $42 million for restoration of natural resources at the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) today announced the opening of Requests for Proposals for grants from the fund and released a manual for how to obtain them.

Trustees in the program will solicit, evaluate, and select projects that best restore natural resources lost due to contamination at the site, which was part of the Manhattan Project that produced materials for the atomic bomb in the early 1940s.

Trustees include the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the United States Department of Energy (DOE), and the United States Department of the Interior, through the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). DOE paid the $42 million into an account administered by the state of Tennessee. The Trustees have established procedures for applications in the process, known as Natural Resources Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR).

Here is a link to the Restoration Project Selection Procedure Grant Program Manual.

Contamination released from the ORR negatively impacted natural resources and services from them. The goal is to restore natural resources in ways that match what was lost.

The process will award grants to organizations and public entities for a wide range of local projects that either enhance the area's natural resources or provide nature and recreational opportunities. Examples of applicable projects include clearing away abandoned parking lots to plant native vegetation, removing invasive species, land conservation, installing streets and parking lots with permeable pavements to improve rainwater infiltration, and septic conversions.

Other projects include those that improve public use of natural resources such as building or improving boat launches and fishing piers, purchasing and restoring land with public access to water, creating public hiking and biking trails or wildlife viewing areas, and constructing, improving, or maintaining public recreation area amenities such as trash control, water fountains, and restrooms.

Local projects eligible for grants must be in one of five categories: habitat creation, habitat restoration or enhancement, habitat preservation, groundwater, or recreation. Grant applications do not have a minimum value and can go as high as millions of dollars for projects in Anderson and Roane counties and portions of Loudon and Knox counties.

The Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) consists of approximately 37,000 acres of federally owned land in Anderson and Roane counties. The ORR is bounded on the north and east by the City of Oak Ridge, and on the south and west by the Clinch River. The western part of the ORR boundary lies just outside the City of Oak Ridge corporate limits.

The ORR was designated a Superfund Site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1989. About 15 percent of the ORR is contaminated by hazardous and radioactive materials, including waste sites or remediation areas. This legacy contamination is being cleaned up. The Tennessee Division of Remediation's Oak Ridge office oversees all environmental protection and remedial action activities on the ORR.

The opening of Requests for Proposals can be viewed online after registering at the TDEC Grants Management System.

View TDEC's Remediation website for more information about the Oak Ridge Reservation.