Scientists at the Wells Reserve have always been deeply interested in salt marsh restoration. For decades, they have focused on how salt marshes degrade and how they can be restored. It's no surprise, then, that this week's Federal Register specifically mentions the Wells Reserve in NOAA's request for comments on a revised draft of the Estuary Habitat Restoration Strategy.
Our neighbor estuarine reserve in New Hampshire, the Great Bay Reserve, is part of a troubled system that was featured in a New Hampshire Public Radio series last week. NHPR's Amy Quinton took an in-depth look at Great Bay and put together some great stories that can be heard or read on the NHPR site.
Associated People Suzanne Kahn Eder Paige Rutherford
Project Summary
Teachers on the Estuary (TOTE) II is designed for middle and high school science teachers who have already attended a TOTE workshop at one of the New England National Estuarine Research Reserves in the summers of 2009, 2010, or 2011. This course aims to improve teacher and student understanding of the environment using local examples and to provide resources and experience to support the incorporation of estuary and watershed topics into classroom teaching. The course is also designed to promote stewardship of watersheds and estuaries.
- See all posts tagged "tote"
- Application deadline for summer 2012 is March 5.
It's apparently a first: Yesterday the U.S. Senate agreed to a resolution designating September 26, 2009 as National Estuaries Day. We're pleased to see Senator Susan Collins as a cosponsor, along with her colleagues Sen. Gregg and Sen. Shaheen from neighboring New Hampshire. Here's the text of the resolution (also available as a PDF):
Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle has nominated the St. Louis River in the northwest part of his state to become the 28th National Estuarine Research Reserve. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will determine whether to add the site to the Reserve system.
The Governor's press release is here. The NERR System announcement is here moved.
According to the latter reference...
If NOAA approves the designation, the 15,000-acre St. Louis River site will become the second reserve in the Great Lakes. Ohio's Old Woman Creek, on Lake Erie, was designated in 1980. The St. Louis River flowing between the cities of Superior, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota, is one of the largest freshwater estuaries on Lake Superior.
In simple terms, estuaries are "where rivers meet the sea." In Wells, that sea is the Gulf of Maine, but the Wisconsin sea would be a large freshwater lake. We are used to thinking of estuaries as the places where fresh water and salt water mix. The idea of a "freshwater estuary" is not new, but it is controversial.
To learn about seiches and wind tides and how they contribute to the definition of a freshwater estuary, we recommend this University of Wisconsin Extension page. Follow the link for Freshwater Estuaries Defined.
Does the term freshwater estuary catch you by surprise?
EstuaryLive, the NERR System nationwide web event, took place just before National Estuaries Day and some early statistics are now available. EstuaryLive 2006 featured four virtual field trips in one day for a total of 4 hours, 20 minutes of programming. The field trips featured segments on crabs, salmon, the scientific method, salt marshes, turtles, birds, fishermen, and much more.
Showing blog posts tagged estuary: 1–5 of 7
