On October 9, 2024, as part of the 2024-25 Restoration Project Brown Bag Science Speaker Series, Gavin Archbald of H. T. Harvey & Associates shared how restoration ecologists have helped Don Edwards Refuge maximize the amount of soil it obtains to build habitat and levees while ensuring that soil has low contaminant levels so wildlife and wetlands are protected. Archbald discussed his work implementing and refining the regulator-required Refuge plan for sampling soil pollutants and managing which soils are clean enough to place onsite. He provided an overview of this plan, called the Quality Assurance Project Plan for the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge or QAPP, how it is implemented, and how the document has been refined over the past 6 years to provide greater flexibility to import soil needed for restoration while remaining protective of aquatic habitats.
See the Event page for more information.