The
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) plans to build a
multi-million-dollar National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR). Marinette, located
on the Bay of Green Bay, is one of three sites being considered. Other potential
sites would be located in either Green Bay or Door County.
The Bay of
Green Bay, the world’s largest freshwater estuary, carries contributions of
biologicals, sediment, and characteristics of the Menominee and Fox Rivers and
other inlets directly to Lake Michigan and all the Great Lakes. NERR described our
regional area as having “significant cultural, economic, commercial and
recreational benefits” gained from its water and coastal features. Because the
Great Lakes currently provide drinking water to 30 million people, this source
of freshwater’s importance and value will only increase in the future. Yet, according
to a NERR fact sheet, both the Bay of Green Bay and Lake Michigan “face many
challenges: changing water levels, flooding, coastal erosion, and harmful algal
blooms.”
The proposed
site will help coordinate the management, restoration, and protection of the Bay
of Green Bay ecosystem. NERR’s national network of 29 sites across the coastal
United States is dedicated to protect and study estuaries and their coastal
wetlands.
“Although the research will be in the waters
of Green Bay, the focus will be quite broad—opportunities for training, for
participating in programs will have a larger footprint and reach,” according to
Emily Tyner, director of freshwater strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Green
Bay. It is hoped to involve elementary, high school, and college students and to
establish internships working with industry, nonprofits, policymakers and
governmental organizations. The goal is to have industry and researchers
working side-by-side in watersheds and with wetland restoration.
Tyner adds
that although the Bay of Green Bay has faced many challenges, there has been
improvement in the last few years that NERR hopes to build on. She cited the
delisting of the Menominee River as an Area of Concern by the EPA in August
2020 as one win for freshwater.
“There’s this tremendous cleanup that’s
already happened but there’s certainly challenges into the future, so hopefully
NERR can help coordinate, think about and design what the future around water
looks like.”
This is an
exciting opportunity for our area and one deserving of community support.
Attend the open meeting on Aug. 4 at the Elementary School
in Peshtigo to learn and explore more about the possibility of creating of a
NERR site here.
