NOAA AWARDS $725,000 FOR DELAWARE ESTUARIES

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded a grant of $725,000 to support the Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve (DNERR). NOAA is an agency of the Commerce Department.

The grant will support the expansion of the Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve visitor center. The DNERR is a cooperative program between the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Division of Soil and Water Conservation, Delaware Coastal Programs and NOAA. The goal of the program is to establish, protect and manage natural estuarine habitats for research and education. The DNERR consists of two main components, the Blackbird Creek and St. Jones Reserve. These sites include both brackish and freshwater estuaries, and represent the diverse estuarine ecosystems found throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

“NOAA and the Bush Administration are working to improve the understanding of our environment and to strengthen local and regional initiatives like Delaware’s National Estuarine Research Reserve,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “This grant to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control will help advance knowledge critical to those efforts in Delaware and the Mid-Atlantic.”

The National Estuarine Research Reserve System is a network of protected areas established for long-term research, education and stewardship. This partnership program between NOAA and the coastal states protects more than one million acres of estuarine land and water, which provides essential habitat to wildlife; offers educational opportunities to students, teachers and the public and serves as living laboratories for scientists.

Each year, NOAA awards approximately $900 million in grants to members of the academic, scientific and business communities to assist the agency in fulfilling its mission to study the Earth’s natural systems in order to predict environmental change, manage ocean resources, protect life and property and provide decision makers with reliable scientific information. NOAA goals and programs reflect a commitment to these basic responsibilities of science and service to the nation for the past 33 years.

The Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources. To learn more about NOAA, please visit http://www.noaa.gov.

On the Web:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: http://www.noaa.gov

Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve: http://nerrs.noaa.gov/Delaware/welcome.html

Conrad C. Lautenbacher: http://www.noaa.gov/lautenbacher.html

National Estuarine Research Reserve System: http://nerrs.noaa.gov/welcome.html