The Natural Resource Advisor Program: An Innovative Approach to Protect Natural and Cultural Resources during the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Response

Abstract The Deepwater Horizon (MC252) oil spill response required the removal of oil from the affected shorelines of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Many of the shoreline cleanup activities had the potential to cause inadvertent but significant impacts to natural and cultural resources. As part of an emergency section 7 consultation, the USFWS developed a list of Best Management Practices (BMPs) to be implemented to minimize the impacts to federally listed species, designated critical habitat, and candidate species. Additional BMPs were developed to aid compliance with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permits and conditions required by state natural and cultural resource agencies. The Deepwater Horizon SCAT group integrated these BMPs into their Shoreline Treatment Recommendations but, due to the size of the response area (>1000 miles), it was difficult for the SCAT teams to ensure BMP compliance throughout the entire response while fulfilling their primary duties. Thus, the Mobile Unified Comm...