Superfund Redevelopment Partnerships
Partners give communities the tools and resources to help implement reuse visions with mutually beneficial outcomes.
Many Superfund sites have advantageous and desirable locations for any number of uses. Superfund sites across the country have been transformed into major shopping centers, business parks, residential subdivisions and recreational facilities. EPA supports a wide range of uses, and does not endorse any one use or organization over another. Several organizations have partnered with EPA to support the reuse of Superfund sites:
On this page:
- Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA)
- Pollinator Partnership (P2)
- Rails to Trails Conservancy (RTC)
- The Trust for Public Land (TPL)
- U.S. Soccer Foundation
Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA)
The reuse of Superfund sites as flying fields benefits EPA and model aeronautic enthusiasts. Academy member clubs help provide stewardship activities, such as mowing and maintaining the landscape surfaces and fences on the parts of Superfund sites that the Academy is using to help protect remedies in place at the site. EPA works with interested AMA clubs to determine whether remedies in place at sites can support aeromodeling activities to help secure new flying fields for AMA club members.
For more information about the Academy of Model Aeronautics, visit the Academy's website, or contact Lisa Johnson at 800-435-9262 Ext. 253 or lisaj@modelaircraft.org.
Examples and Resources:
Pollinator Partnership (P2)
Pollinator Partnership: The Pollinator Partnership (P2) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California. P2 works to protect the health of managed and native pollinating animals vital to our North American ecosystems and agriculture. P2’s mission is to protect pollinators, critical to food and ecosystems, through conservation, education, and research. P2 offers a broad range of useful resources that can complement a wide range of future uses, such as farming and ranching, corporate lands and buildings, golf courses and public lands. P2’s resources also highlight policy documents and education opportunities.
P2 is interested in working with communities and responsible parties at any point in the cleanup process to promote and protect pollinators and the agricultural and ecological services they provide. If you are interested in learning whether P2 can help you reach reuse goals, visit the P2 website or contact Laurie Davies Adams, (415) 362-1137, LDA@pollinator.org, to learn more about next steps.
Examples and Resources:
Rails to Trails Conservancy (RTC)
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. whose mission is to create a nationwide network of trails from former rail lines and connecting corridors to build healthier places for healthier people. RTC provides resources to find answers to technical questions or to guide you through the trail-building process by working at the community-level to facilitate and spread trail successes. This technical know-how has been applied to several Superfund sites that are now enjoying new trails that provide unique recreational opportunities that encourage healthy lifestyles. If your community is interested in reusing rail lines, contact Liz Thorstensen, liz@railstotrails.org, to learn more about next steps and how to make your project a success.
Examples and Resources:
- RTC Website
- Superfund Sites in Proximity to Railroads Map (PDF)
- California Gulch Beneficial Effects Economic Case Study (PDF)
- Bunker Hill Mining & Metallurgical Complex, Smelterville, Idaho Site Reuse Snapshot
- Eastland Woolen Mill Beneficial Effects Economic Case Study (PDF)
The Trust for Public Land (TPL)
The Trust for Public Land is a national nonprofit organization that conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, gardens, historic sites, rural lands, and other natural places. The Trust for Public Land can help communities:
- Identify and raise funds for conservation from federal, state, local, and philanthropic sources
- Structure, negotiate, and complete land transactions that create parks, playgrounds, and protected natural areas
- Support park and greenspace creation through innovative research, planning, and spatial analysis (GIS)
- Help create parks and playgrounds on new or existing park sites, employing a participatory, community-based design process
The Trust for Public Land is interested in exploring opportunities to collaborate with Superfund communities at any point in the cleanup process. If your community is interested in learning whether The Trust for Public Land can help you reach reuse goals, contact Walker Holmes (walker.holmes@tpl.org), (203) 777-7367 x3 to learn more about next steps.
Examples and Resources:
U.S. Soccer Foundation
The U.S. Soccer Foundation enhances, assists and grows the sport of soccer in the United States with a special emphasis on underserved communities, including communities with Superfund sites. The Foundation provides grants, field design and planning assistance, engineering services and sports equipment to communities that want to build soccer fields. These services provided by the Foundation have allowed for the successful establishment of soccer fields at several cleaned-up Superfund sites where EPA has determined that recreational use is appropriate. If your community has made the decision to transform a Superfund site into soccer fields, please contact Patricia Arty, (202) 872-6668, party@ussoccerfoundation.org to learn whether the US Soccer Foundation can help.
Examples and Resources:
- Avtex Fibers, Front Royal, Virginia
- California Gulch, Leadville, Colorado
- H.O.D. Landfill, Antioch, Illinois
- Whitmoyer Laboratories, Jackson Township, Pennsylvania
- Woodstock Landfill, Woodstock, Illinois