This Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) systematically evaluates the short and long-term environmental and socioeconomic effects related to the implementation of seagrass restoration and seagrass injury prevention projects in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS). The goal of this PEIS is to describe a range of seagrass restoration techniques, used for both primary and compensatory restoration projects and seagrass injury prevention actions that potentially may be implemented in the FKNMS. The types of seagrass restoration and injury prevention projects proposed in this plan will be implemented with funds collected through natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) settlements for injuries to seagrasses within the FKNMS. The anticipated beneficial and adverse environmental and socioeconomic impacts of each restoration technique are discussed in detail.

"This document presents the results of the monitoring of a repaired seagrass area injured by the N-Control vessel grounding incident of May 29, 2001. This grounding occurred in State of Florida waters within the boundaries of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) and impacted a total of 96.87 m2 of seagrass habitat, predominantly Turtle grass (Thalassia testudinum)"--Abstract.

This document presents an overview of the current state of seagrass conservation and restoration in the United States, discusses issues that should be addressed in planning seagrass restoration projects, describes different planting methodologies, proposes monitoring criteria and means for evaluating success, and discusses issues faced by resource managers.

Describes use of cellular automata model as part of a damage assessment process to forecast seagrass recovery rates in areas of Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary affected by vessel groundings. Notes field validation of the forecasts was done by comparing model-predicted recovery to that observed to be occurring naturally for 30 documented vessel grounding sites. Preliminary findings indicate that the recovery model is generous to Responsible Parties, since the model forecasts a faster recovery than was observed to occur naturally. Report also notes that an examination of the relationship between select environmental factors and injury recovery dynamics is also underway.