What is the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration?

The Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) evaluates and restores natural resources as diverse as deep-sea coral, fish, wetlands, beaches, birds, sea turtles, dolphins and other marine life, and lost recreational uses impacted by oil spills.

Federal and state restoration partners involved in the NRDAR are acting under the law as natural resource trustees. The trustees work together to identify the extent of natural resource injuries and, with input from the public, the type and amount of restoration required to restore the Gulf to the condition it would have been in if the spill had not occurred - including compensation for interim losses. In November 2021, the Trustees released the 2021 Programmatic Review of their restoration progress in the Gulf using data collected by their work through 2020.