Authorizing Mandate | Program Description

The National Estuarine Research Reserve System is a network of 26 protected areas established for long-term research, education and coastal stewardship.

The National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) is a network of 26 estuarine areas — places where freshwater from land mixes with saltwater from the sea — established across the nation for long-term stewardship, research and education. Bays, sounds, marshes, inlets, lagoons and sloughs are all examples of estuaries. Estuaries are crucial spawning areas for many commercial and recreational fish and shellfish, and buffer upland areas from flooding and shoreline erosion. The sites within the estuarine reserve system protect over one million acres of land and water, and range in size from 365,000-acre Kachemak Bay, Alaska, to 571-acre Old Woman Creek, in Erie County, Ohio.

Authorizing Mandate

NOAA’s National Ocean Service implements NERRS as part of the Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Act of 1972, which called for the establishment of a network of estuaries that represent different biogeographical regions of the United States. Within this network, reserve scientists and other researchers conduct ecological research. Their findings are communicated to coastal managers and other community decision makers.

The reserve system protects more than one million acres of estuarine land and water, representing various biogeographic regions of the United States.

Program Description

NOS’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) is responsible for administrating the reserve system. The health of the nation’s estuaries is monitored on a continual basis via the System-wide Monitoring Program. The Graduate Research Fellowship Program offers students an opportunity to work in a national estuarine research reserve. In addition, the reserve system’s Coastal Training Program provides coastal decision makers with tools to help them make informed management decisions.

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