National Estuarine Research Reserve facts for kids
| NERRS | |
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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed |
1972
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| Parent Agency |
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and state agencies
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The National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) is a group of 29 special protected areas. These areas are created through teamwork between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and coastal states. The reserves are found in different natural regions across the United States. NERRS helps protect over 1.3 million acres of coastal and estuary habitats. This protection allows for long-term research, checking water quality, education, and caring for our coasts.
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About Estuaries and NERRS
For thousands of years, coastal areas and estuaries have given people food, safe places for boats, and ways to travel. They also help control floods and offer fun places to play and relax. Our nation's coasts are facing big challenges. Things like strong storms, climate change, pollution, and changes to natural homes (called habitat alteration) are causing problems. These issues threaten the natural systems that have supported coastal communities for a long time.
Estuaries are places where fresh water from rivers mixes with salt water from the ocean. Sometimes, they connect to the Great Lakes instead of the ocean. Humans rely on both the land and the ocean to live. So, taking care of these connections is super important for all of us.
The NERRS was started in 1972 by the Coastal Zone Management Act. At first, they were called "estuarine sanctuaries." In 1988, their name changed to "estuarine research reserves." NOAA provides money, national guidance, and expert help. Each reserve is managed every day by a main state agency or a university. Local partners also help with ideas and support.
Reserve staff work with local communities and groups. They help solve problems like pollution from many sources and how to bring back natural habitats. They also deal with invasive species, which are plants or animals that don't belong there. Through research and education, the reserves help communities find ways to handle these coastal issues. They train adults on local estuary topics and offer field trips for students from kindergarten to 12th grade. They also teach teachers about estuaries through a special program. Reserves also check water quality over long periods. They give scientists and students places to do research in a "living laboratory."
Key Programs of NERRS
Research and Monitoring
The National Estuarine Research Reserves are like living laboratories. They support coastal research and long-term monitoring. They also provide places for staff, visiting scientists, and students to work. These reserves are also used as reference sites. This means they are compared to other places to study things like how ecosystems work. Scientists also look at how humans affect estuaries, how to save and restore habitats, and how to manage different species. The reserves also act as "sentinel sites." This means they help us understand the effects of climate change better.
The main goals of the Reserve System's research program are:
- To keep a stable environment for research by protecting the reserves for a long time.
- To solve coastal management problems through organized research within the System.
- To gather information needed to better understand and manage estuarine areas.
- To make this information available to everyone who needs it.
Each reserve works on many research projects. They also take part in the System-Wide Monitoring Program. The topics of these projects change based on local needs and national concerns. For example, they might study the effects of pollution or how to control invasive species.
System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP)
The System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP), pronounced "swamp," started in 1995. It helps observe short-term changes and long-term trends in estuary regions. Every reserve takes part in SWMP. This program gives researchers, managers, educators, and others standard ways to measure how conditions in the reserves are changing. By using the same methods across all 29 reserves, SWMP data helps make the reserves a system of national reference sites. They also become a network of sentinel sites for finding and understanding climate change effects in coastal areas.
SWMP has three main parts:
- Checking water quality and weather (non-living factors).
- Monitoring living things (biological monitoring).
- Mapping watersheds, habitats, and how land is used.
Non-living factors include things like nutrients, temperature, saltiness, pH, and oxygen in the water. Biological monitoring looks at the variety of life, habitats, and animal populations. Watershed and land use maps show how humans use the land and how land cover changes around each reserve.
SWMP data for each reserve is managed by the Centralized Data Management Office (CDMO). This office is at the North Inlet-Winyah Bay Reserve in South Carolina. You can view and download SWMP data from the CDMO website.
NERRS Science Collaborative
The NERRS Science Collaborative helps use science from the reserves to benefit local communities. The University of Michigan (UM) runs this program. It gives money for research projects that bring together scientists, people who will use the science, and educators. They work together to solve problems like coastal pollution and habitat damage, especially with climate change in mind. The results of these projects are shared across the whole System. The Collaborative also supports a graduate program at UM. This program helps people learn skills to connect science information with decisions about coastal resources.
Education Programs
National Estuarine Research Reserves are set up to "improve public awareness and understanding of estuarine areas." They also provide good chances for public education. Each reserve is an active part of its local and regional education community. They also represent their state and NOAA in caring for the environment. The reserve system uses a local approach to improve estuary education. They create meaningful experiences for all kinds of people who want to learn about, protect, and restore estuaries.
The Estuary Education Program works to increase student, teacher, and public awareness of estuaries. They do this by offering hands-on field trips and learning materials. They also provide training for teachers and public events. The Estuary Education Network helps improve understanding of estuaries, climate, and oceans. Estuaries are great places to learn about how land and ocean systems are connected. They also show how important these systems are for humans and how we can protect them.
Training for Coastal Leaders
The National Estuarine Research Reserve System's Coastal Training Program (CTP) started in 2001. It gives up-to-date science information and skill-building chances to people who make decisions about coastal lands and waters in the United States. Through this program, the reserves make sure that coastal decision-makers have the knowledge and tools they need. This helps them deal with important resource management issues in their communities. Coastal Training Programs offered by reserves focus on topics like managing stormwater, community development, and land use planning. Since 2006, these programs have held over 400 training events. They have reached at least 13,000 decision-makers in coastal areas.
Caring for Coastal Habitats (Stewardship)
A main goal of the Reserves is to protect and care for the over 1.3 million acres of coastal and estuary habitat within the reserves. They also help improve how coastal habitats outside the reserves are cared for. The Reserve System uses the best available science to keep ecosystems healthy and strong. They also share information with regional and national groups. Each reserve has its own ways to deal with threats. These threats include coastal development, how people use reserve resources, climate change, and invasive species.
Stewardship Issues NERRS Addresses
- Invasive Species
Invasive species are plants or animals that are not native to an area. When they are brought in, they can harm the environment or public health. Reserves manage invasive species by trying to stop new ones from arriving. They also remove them if it's appropriate.
- Species of Concern
Reserves manage and restore habitats to help species that are at risk. They do this by fixing damaged habitats and connecting different habitats. This helps species at different stages of their lives. They also manage how many visitors are allowed during important times for species. They restore species and habitats like native oysters and seagrass beds when possible. Reserves also work in the surrounding land areas (watersheds) to find, protect, and restore important homes for estuary species like salmon.
- Fire Management
Many reserves have habitats that need fire to stay healthy. Managing fire through planned burns is tricky because these areas are often close to developed places. Many reserves manage these fire-dependent habitats and watch how the habitat and species recover afterward.
- Hydrologic Restoration
Development along our nation's estuaries often creates barriers to water flow. These barriers can be roads, dikes, or railroads. They change habitats, water quality, and where species live. Many reserves are fixing these problems by managing or restoring water flow. They do this by replacing pipes under roads (culverts), managing tide gates, or removing dikes.
- Water Quality
Water quality is a key sign of how healthy coastal areas are. It shows the effects of activities in the surrounding land (watersheds). Good water quality affects the quality of coastal habitats and human communities. People rely on estuaries for fun activities and for their jobs. Water quality factors like clarity, oxygen, nutrients, temperature, and saltiness all greatly affect natural and human communities in coastal ecosystems.
The reserves are working on water quality in several ways. They do intensive monitoring of estuary habitats through the System-Wide Monitoring Program. They also work with farmers to develop and check good farming practices. They monitor how tree cover affects salmon habitats. They address problems with dirt flowing into coastal streams by working with nearby landowners. They also check how land use affects water quality using tools like the Non-Point Source Pollution, Erosion and Control (NSPECT) tool.
- Habitat Alteration
Coastal and estuary habitats include marshes, wetlands, oyster reefs, seagrass beds, and beaches. These places are vital for fish, birds, and other wildlife, and for human communities too. They help protect against floods, improve water quality, offer fun activities, and support fishing and tourism. Restoring habitats helps ecosystems by removing pollution and invasive species. It also brings back natural processes and reintroduces native plants and animals.
The Reserves work with several NOAA programs and many regional partners. They improve the science that supports habitat restoration. They restore coastal habitats, control invasive species, and protect habitats by buying land. They also put in place land management practices that balance conservation with public access.
- Habitat Mapping and Change
The Reserve System's Habitat Mapping and Change Plan was created in 2007. It set up a way to map habitats in reserves. This helps track long-term changes related to local sea level changes and human impacts from the surrounding land. This plan is supported by other documents. These include the NERR Land Cover and Habitat Classification System and its guidelines.
- Restoration Projects
As living laboratories, the reserves are perfect places to study how to restore and protect estuary and coastal habitats. They are protected by the government and have many different natural areas. They also have on-site facilities, long-term monitoring programs, and expert staff. This makes them excellent places to advance restoration science. They can also host demonstration restoration projects and watch how they recover over time. Most reserves have large areas of untouched habitat. These are useful as long-term scientific reference sites. They help us understand estuary ecosystems and compare them to other areas that have been disturbed.
So far, most reserves have been involved in restoration science. They have planned or done small to medium-sized restoration projects. An inventory of key habitats and restoration activities was done in 2000 and updated in 2001. This is summarized in the NERRS Restoration Science Strategy. Reserves have looked at both engineering and natural ways to restore areas to their original, natural conditions. Several reserves first need to fix water quality problems or restore natural water flow. Only then can they restore native plant communities and help animals and ecosystems recover.
Current Reserves List
See also
In Spanish: Sistema Nacional de Reservas de Investigación Estuarina para niños
