DOI Project #, NE009; Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief; Removal of the Whittenton Dam and West Britannia Dam on the Mill River, MA

This is an announcement for issuing a single source financial assistance award to the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game ¿ Division of Ecological Restoration (MADER). This announcement is for notification purposes only. The intent of the award is to restore riverine connectivity, enhance fish passage, improve water quality, and reduce flood risk to public and private infrastructure during future storm events through the removal of the Whittenton Dam and West Britannia Dam on the Mill River, in Taunton, Bristol County, MA. Funding from this award for the Whittenton Dam will be combined with other existing funds to complete floodplain actions after removal of the dam. Funding from this award for the West Britannia Dam will be combined with other existing funds to complete engineering design, environmental compliance and permitting, removal of the dam, and river channel and floodplain restoration. This award is issued to provide financial assistance to collaboratively developed priority projects in Hurricane Sandy disaster areas that will restore environmental resources and reduce flood hazards through collaborative efforts with local communities. The project is expected to improve flood resiliency, restore ecosystem function, provide fish and wildlife habitat, provide fish passage, reduce potential flood damage, and increase public safety by removing the risk of catastrophic dam failure. This project was previously vetted and approved for funding by the Department of the Interior. The appropriation for this project is the Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriation Act of 2013, Public Law 113-2. Criteria for funding was based on the project¿s ability to yield the greatest return on investment by taking advantage of existing science and regional planning tools for resiliency and by working with states, cities, communities, and partners who contribute to the goals restoring and rebuilding national wildlife refuges and other federal public assets: and to increase resiliency and the capacity of coastal habitat and infrastructure and to withstand future storms and to minimize the damage incurred.