Board gets update on NERR project | News | ehextra.com
MARINETTE—Director of Freshwater Strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (UWGB) Emily Tyner updated Marinette County Board members Tuesday on the development of the National Estuarine Research and Reserve (NERR) project on the bay of Green Bay.
The NERR system is a network of 29 coastal research reserves located across the nation. The network was established through the 1972 Coastal Zone Management Act and is managed by agencies, universities and local partners of each host state in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Tyner said the proposed Green Bay NERR will be a multi-component site that includes a visitor center as well as several natural sites representing a variety of habitats. Marinette is currently one of the locations that is being considered for the NERR visitor center.
The bay of Green Bay is the world’s largest freshwater estuary, or convergence point of river and lake water. Estuaries are fertile but fragile ecosystems, according to the NOAA. Research produced through the NERR initiative is meant to provide information that will help protect these areas.
The Green Bay NERR will focus on studying the bay’s watershed in addition to the bay itself. According to the DNR, this watershed includes all of Florence, Marinette and Oconto Counties in addition to portions of Forest, Brown, Langlade, Menominee, Outagamie, Shawano and Vilas counties. Tyner said research opportunities and programs administered through the Green Bay NERR will therefore extend up into the U.P. and all around Lake Michigan.
Such opportunities could attract researchers from around the world because of the bay’s unique characteristics, according to Tyner.
“One unique thing about the bay is it’s large enough that it has all the physical and geochemical processes of many large water bodies around the world,” she said.
These processes include tides, seiches or temporary fluctuations in water levels and mixing of water with different chemical properties. At the same time, the bay is small enough to research comprehensively, making it an ideal location for studying freshwater.
Tyner said that one objective specific to the Green Bay NERR is to develop a holistic understanding of the bay’s water and how it impacts local communities economically and culturally.
“These are the economic connections, the cultural, the tribal, the artistic, the storytelling potential,” she said. “We really want to highlight all of these things with the reserve and the opportunities that come with it.”
In addition, Tyner said that UWGB hopes to make the Green Bay NERR the most technologically advanced reserve in the country. To this end, the university is working with various companies like Microsoft, Cellcom and Aexonis to integrate technology, such as sensors that can track bird behavior, into the reserve’s research. This could enhance research but also provide incentive for professionals to remain in communities around the bay, according to Tyner.
“We’re really thinking about ways that technology and water intersect and how that’s important for job opportunities to keep people with talent in the region,” she said.
The bay of Green Bay is now marked with a red tag on the map of national NERR sites, indicating that it is officially in the designation procedure. Tyner said the Green Bay site is currently in the third year of the process and estimated that it will be officially designated by the end of 2024.
Source: Board gets update on NERR project | News | ehextra.com
