Miss the NERR kick-off events? You can watch the event on your time
Were you interested but just couldn’t find the time to participate in the National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) kick-off event? They are recorded and are now live on the UW-Green Bay NERR website.
The National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERR) is a national network of 29 sites across the coastal US, including the Great Lakes, designed to protect and study estuaries and their coastal wetlands. The mission of the NERR System is, “To practice and promote stewardship of coasts and estuaries through innovative research, education, and training using a place-based system of protected areas.”
Established through the Coastal Zone Management Act, the reserves represent a partnership program between NOAA and the coastal states. NOAA provides funding and national guidance, and each site is managed on a daily basis by a lead state agency or university with input from local partners. For the Green Bay NERR, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is leading the designation process. At the local level, a Green Bay NERR will offer a coordinating force to manage, restore, and protect the Green Bay ecosystem, with a programmatic focus on four sectors: research, education, stewardship, and training.
The Green Bay NERR is currently in step two of the six-step designation process—the evaluation of potential sites. This stage includes broad-reaching public outreach and stakeholder engagement; establishing the criteria used to select a site; the determination of candidate sites; and the nomination of a final site to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). See the Site Selection & Timeline for more details.
