To: The United States Senate

Congress: Support NOAA and Our Reserves

I urge you to fully fund the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) that has served this country for more than 40 years. Protecting reserves and NOAA is essential to the health and economic security of our nation's coastal communities.

Why is this important?

Close to 98% of federal funding to the NERRS from NOAA goes directly to coastal communities. News emerged this past Friday that the Trump Administration is urging drastic cuts to NOAA's budget, including complete elimination of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System. Without the funding and support that NOAA provides, many of our nation's reserves would be forced to shut their doors. Science, training, and technical assistance essential to keeping our coastal communities safe and thriving would disappear.

Reserves are special places that communities count on to educate children, adults, and decision makers about their environment. Nationwide, they provide STEM education to more than 8,500 kids and 250 teachers annually, deliver coastal resiliency training services that reach more than 2,500 communities, and maintain more than 110 water quality stations and 30 weather stations that collect data every 15 minutes to manage hazardous spills, shellfish industry operations, water quality, and emergency response to storm surge and flooding.

Reserve science protects our estuaries, and healthy estuaries defend us against property and industry loss, sustain fisheries and other businesses, support recreational activities and protect water quality.

Learn more about reserves at www.nerra.org.

#MyReserveOurCoasts