The National Estuarine Research Reserve System is a network of protected biogeographic regions in the United States that serve as reference sites for research, education, and stewardship. Biogeographic regions are geographic areas with similar dominant plants, animals, and prevailing climate.
There are 11 major biogeographic regions around the coast with 29 subregions, 20 of which are currently represented by the reserve system. The reserve system is designed to include sites representing all 29 biogeographic subregions, with additional sites representing different types of estuaries. In the near term, priority for federal designation of new National Estuarine Research Reserves will be given to coastal states that are in unrepresented biogeographic regions.
Reserve Designation Dates, Acreage, and Biogeographic Regions
| Reserve | Year | Acres | Square Miles |
Square Kilometers |
Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Slough, OR | 1974 | 4,771 | 7.5 | 19.3 | Columbian (17) |
| Sapelo Island, GA | 1976 | 6,110 | 9.5 | 24.7 | Carolinian (7) |
| Rookery Bay, FL | 1978 | 110,000 | 171.9 | 445.2 | West Indian (10) |
| Apalachicola Bay, FL | 1979 | 234,715 | 384.4 | 995.5 | Louisianian (11) |
| Elkhorn Slough, CA | 1979 | 1,439 | 2.2 | 5.8 | Californian (15) |
| Padilla Bay, WA | 1980 | 11,966 | 17.9 | 46.4 | Columbian (19) |
| Narragansett Bay, RI | 1980 | 4,332 | 6.7 | 17.2 | Virginian (3) |
| Old Woman Creek, OH | 1980 | 573 | 0.9 | 2.3 | Great Lakes (22) |
| Jobos Bay, PR | 1981 | 2,883 | 4.5 | 11.7 | West Indian (9) |
| Tijuana River, CA | 1982 | 2,293 | 3.6 | 9.3 | Californian (14) |
| Hudson River, NY (4 components) |
1982 | 4,838 | 7.6 | 19.6 | Virginian (3) |
| North Carolina (4 components) |
1985, 1991 | 10,568 | 15.6 | 40.5 | Carolinian (6) |
| Wells, ME | 1986 | 2,250 | 3.5 | 9.1 | Acadian (2) |
| Chesapeake Bay, MD (3 components) |
1985, 1990 | 6,249 | 9.8 | 25.3 | Virginian (5) |
| Weeks Bay, AL | 1986 | 9,317 | 10.2 | 26.4 | Louisianian (11) |
| Waquoit Bay, MA | 1988 | 2,804 | 4.3 | 11.3 | Virginian (3) |
| Great Bay, NH | 1989 | 10,235 | 16.0 | 41.4 | Acadian (2) |
| Chesapeake Bay, VA (4 components) | 1991 | 3,072 | 4.8 | 12.4 | Virginian (5) |
| Ace Basin, SC | 1992 | 99,308 | 155.2 | 401.9 | Carolinian (7) |
| N. Inlet Winyah Bay, SC | 1992 | 18,916 | 29.6 | 76.6 | Carolinian (7) |
| Delaware | 1993 | 6,364 | 7.7 | 20.0 | Virginian (4) |
| Jacques Cousteau, NJ | 1998 | 116,116 | 179.5 | 464.9 | Virginian (4) |
| Kachemak Bay, AK | 1999 | 372,000 | 572.0 | 1,481.6 | Fjord (25) |
| Grand Bay, MS | 1999 | 18,049 | 28.8 | 74.5 | Louisianian (12) | Guana Tolomato Matanzas, FL | 1999 | 76,760 | 114.6 | 296.8 | Carolinian (8) |
| San Francisco Bay, CA | 2003 | 3,710 | 5.8 | 15.0 | Californian (16) |
| Mission-Aransas, TX | 2006 | 186,189 | 290.2 | 751.5 | Louisianian (13) |
| Lake Superior, WI | 2010 | 16,697 | 26.1 | 67.6 | Great Lakes (20) |
| He‘eia, HI | 2017 | 1,385 | 2.16 | 5.60 | Insular - Hawaiian Islands | Connecticut | 2022 | 52,160 | 81.5 | 211.1 | Virginian (3) |