Following the signing of the landmark 1987 Anacostia Watershed Restoration Agreement, the AWRC was established. Its mission is to oversee and guide the restoration process. In order to do this, the AWRC developed a restoration plan in 1991 to restore the Anacostia known as the Six-Point Action Plan.

The six major goals of the Six-Point Action Plan are as follows:

GOAL 1: Dramatically reduce pollutant loads delivered to the tidal river so as to measurably improve water quality conditions by the turn of the century.

GOAL 2: Protect and restore the ecological integrity of urban Anacostia streams to enhance aquatic diversity and provide for a quality urban fishery.

GOAL 3: Restore the spawning range of anadromous fish to historical limits.

GOAL 4: Increase the natural filtering capacity of the watershed by sharply increasing the acreage and quality of tidal and non-tidal wetlands.

GOAL 5: Expand the range of forest cover throughout the watershed and create a contiguous corridor of forest along the margins of its streams and rivers.

GOAL 6: Make the public aware of its key role in the cleanup of the river, and increase volunteer participation in watershed restoration activities.

Using these goals, the AWRC and its many partners have made significant progress in the long road toward the restoration of the Anacostia. As previously stated, over the past 10 years, roughly 580 restoration projects have been identified, and of those, approximately 29 percent have been completed or are planned for implementation. This is a remarkable accomplishment given the human, institutional and financial resources required, and the short amount of time that has elapsed.

In order to accurately and concisely convey the restoration progress that has been made, each of the six goals is presented herein in a manner that provides a general description of the problem area, the strategy being implemented to address the problem and a short highlight of past and current initiatives and accomplishments associated with the restoration goal.