The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management mission to fulfill DOE’s post-closure responsibilities at its 101 sites across the United States includes long-term site surveillance and maintenance and ensures future protection of human health and the environment. One way LM fulfills this mission is by consistently assessing and identifying beneficial reuse opportunities at its sites, with intent to transfer each property back to the community, if possible.
The LM Ecosystem Management Team supports DOE conservation, land reuse, and land management initiatives. Specifically, EMT evaluates, recommends, and implements practices and projects to restore, maintain, and enhance LM sites’ ecological health.
“A part of LM’s mission is the maintenance done at most sites, which is an especially important piece of supporting beneficial reuse. LM’s maintenance projects, both ongoing and completed, are essential to enhancing the ecological health of a lot of our Western sites," said LM Beneficial Reuse Asset Manager Diana Kamenel Trettin.
Every year, the site maintenance team begins work at each Western site, performing any necessary maintenance.
“We usually start in southern New Mexico and work our way through," said Travis Thoele, Legacy Management Support Partner environmental specialist and site maintenance team member. “We usually do about 20,000 miles of driving from site to site and project to project."
One beneficial reuse project the site maintenance team completed recently was the installation of fence flagging at disposal sites in Maybell, Maybell West and Gunnison, Colorado. The Gunnison site is in the federally listed, threatened Gunnison sage-grouse’s designated-critical habitat, and the Maybell and Maybell West sites are within the range of the greater sage-grouse, where conservation agreements to protect the sage-grouse prevent its federal listing. The site maintenance team installs fence flagging to protect the birds because sage-grouse can collide with unflagged fences when predators, vehicles, or other disruptions startle the birds.
The fence flagging also ensures the protection of other bird species and animals from getting entangled in the fence. In past years, the broken fence wire had to be repaired due to larger animal encounters such as antelope and elk. Since the flagging was installed, the need for fence repair is considerably less.
The site maintenance team also manages vegetation, such as removing dead and dry shrubs at the Tuba City, Arizona, Site and mowing and spraying weeds at the Durango, Colorado, Disposal Site and the Monticello, Utah, Disposal Site. The team removes weeds in early spring and continues through summer and fall.
“Removing invasive plant species helps restore and protect the natural habitats that grow along the sites. The goal is to manage and restore vegetation and continue to monitor the sites," Kamenel Trettin added.
Over the past two years, the site maintenance team has removed more than half a mile of degrading fence at the L-Bar, New Mexico, Site, and is planning to start general maintenance at the Bluewater, New Mexico, Disposal Site as early as this fall.
“Over the next several months, LM plans on installing elk guzzlers at the Bluewater site, which will create a reservoir for animals to drink from," Thoele said. “The Bluewater site is in a very hot climate, so it can be difficult to keep water from evaporating. We are aiming for late fall or early spring."
“These projects are a crucial piece to LM’s beneficial reuse plan," Kamenel Trettin added. “I’m thankful for the site maintenance team for its continued work and support."