Stewardship and the US Department of Energy: Encompassing Ecosystem Protection

Stewardship normally refers to the long-term wise use and protection of natural or other resources. In the last 5 years the US Department of Energy (USDOE) has included stewardship as an important mission. Although the USDOE documents include responsibility for the protection of natural environments, statements on stewardship refer to responsibility for the long-term protection of human health and the environment from radioactivity and hazardous chemicals. We suggest that the USDOE should incorporate the buffer land around its hazardous sites into its stewardship mission, by adding these considerations to its Office of Environmental Restoration and developing performance measures for stewardship of this land that are as rigorously pursued as its clean-up goals. Although there will be lost opportunity costs, this option will have the advantages of ecosystem protection and enhanced ecosystem integrity, in addition to continued monitoring, assessment and security.