Be a part of the National Estuaries Day this Saturday, September 27th. The nationwide event offers a multitude of activities for the entire family. Check out the Research Reserves: some will offer guided walks, boat tours, live animal presentations, touch tanks, and kayak tours. Look for nature crafts for kids of all ages, estuary games and activities, live music, fish printing and more!
The web site is a wonderful resource. This interesting guide includes the EstuaryLive, presenting videos, live broadcasts, virtual field-trips, dynamic presentations, and other exciting events in estuarine reserves across the country.Many people do not realize how much we depend on estuaries, and how our actions can have an effect on those places that might seem far from home. What each of us does can affect an estuary's health and even people’s health. The flow of water through rivers, lakes, and wetlands eventually meets the sea. The air we breathe and water we drink come back to us from there, in oxygen produced by ocean plants and moisture evaporated from the sea.
The estuary reserves are protected for long-term research, water-quality monitoring, education and coastal stewardship of the 1.3 million acres of coastal land and waters, from Alaska to Puerto Rico. The reserve sites make up the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS), a partnership program between National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) and the coastal states.
They are doing an impressive job. Thirty years ago, the Rookery Bay Reserve near Naples, Florida was established as a 3,700-acre national sanctuary. Its boundary has now been expanded to 110,000 acres, and it is one of the nation’s last relatively untouched mangrove-forested estuaries.
The Carolinas are home to three of the twenty-seven reserves in the United States. One is the third largest in the country. Do you know them? In the next posts, we will take a closer look at these natural treasures, exploring the places where rivers meet the sea. Join us and plan your own event, visit a Research Reserve, or plan on taking a kid outdoors!
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