Emily Tyner, Director of Freshwater Strategy at The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, addressed members of the Marinette City Council recently about current ongoing site exploration for a new National Estuarine Research Center (NERR). The Center is to be established at either Marinette, Green Bay, or Door County.
Marinette,
with its prime location on the Bay, would be a natural choice for the Center with
its goal of helping to coordinate the management, restoration, and protection of
the Green Bay ecosystem. Tyner explained that the delisting of the Menominee
River as an Area of Concern by the Environmental Protection Agency (August
2020) was a win for freshwater.
If
Marinette is selected, the Center will help to attract visitors and provide
outreach to area schools as well as serving as a valuable research center in
efforts to protect freshwater. The Bay of Green Bay, as the world’s largest
freshwater estuary carries contributions of biologicals and sediment and
characteristics of the Menominee River, Fox River, and many other inlets
directly to Lake Michigan and the whole of all the Great Lakes.
Currently, the Great Lakes provides drinking water to 30
million people and its importance as a source of fresh water will only increase
in the future.
Click on the link above to learn more. (An interview with Tyner and Marissa Jablonski of the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin)
https://www.wuwm.com/2021-06-08/uw-green-bay-is-working-to-becomenational-estuarine-research-reserve
