Shoreline site on the waters of Green Bay, March 12, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A meeting is set for the public to comment on the process in making a Green Bay site a National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR).
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and UW-Green Bay will host a virtual meeting on Tuesday, March 19 at 10 a.m. via Zoom, and an in-person meeting will be held at 1:30 p.m. at the STEM Innovation Center on the UW-Green Bay campus.
Officials will discuss the development of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Bay of Green Bay NERR.
In January of this year, NOAA reviewed the final nomination package submitted by the state of Wisconsin and determined that it met all regulatory requirements for accepting the nomination of natural area sites for a NERR.
Click here to read the NOAA acceptance letter.
NERR is a national network of 30 sites across the coastal U.S. and the Great Lakes, designed to protect and study estuaries and their coastal wetlands.
Having this designation will help protect and restore the Green Bay water ecosystem, promote continued water research and enhance the region’s economic, cultural and recreational offerings. It also brings the area national attention.
The Green Bay ecosystem is the largest freshwater estuary in the world, in the largest reservoir of freshwater on the planet.
If selected, the reserve will be a non-regulatory entity managed by UW-Green Bay with program guidance and technical assistance from NOAA.
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