NERR HERE: Governor picks Atchafalaya as site for estuary reserve

Community enthusiasm paid off Wednesday when Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that he nominated the Atchafalaya Coastal Basin as a site for Louisiana’s first National Estuarine Research Reserve.

The NERR — usually pronounced “near” — would be part of a network of federally coordinated reserves devoted to the study of ecosystems where rivers meet the sea. The final decision is up to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which coordinates the system and pays 70% of the operational expenses. The state government pays the rest.

St. Mary people, led by the St. Mary Excel citizens group, have worked to have the Basin designated as the site for the reserve requested by Edwards in July 2019.

They saw educational, economic and environmental opportunities in having a NERR, and they lined up letters of support and persuaded local governments to pass supporting resolutions. Louisiana Sea Grant and LSU specialists involved in the selection process came to St. Mary for educational meetings.

And Berwick High’s team in the annual Rotary Club New Generation event chose a pro-NERR campaign as its civic project.

“The whole community, St. Mary Parish, the whole area came together,” said Catherine Holcomb of St. Mary Excel. “Things happen when people get involved.”

“It’s a great opportunity to research the Basin,” said Executive Director Carrie Stansbury of the Cajun Coast Convention and Tourism Bureau, “and hang our hat on something and say we’re the best at this.”

NERR sites “serve as living laboratories for the study of estuaries and the natural and human changes that they experience,” according to a press release from the Governor’s Office. “They host monitoring, training, and educational activities that connect people to science while helping to build long-term relationships among local communities, state and federal agencies, and other nongovernmental entities. Louisiana is currently the only marine coastal state in
the country without a National Estuarine Research Reserve.”

While NOAA coordinates the system, the states operate NERRs within their boundaries. The shape reserves take varies from site to site. The land-use rules administered by the state continue to be in force at a designated NERR site.

The educational purposes include field trips for K-12 students as well as research sites for graduate students. Four NERRs, three in Florida and one in Oregon, studied by the Eastern Research Group calculated economic impacts ranging from $6 million to $57 million per year.

“From an environmental and scientific point of view, the Atchafalaya River Basin is the nation’s largest freshwater swamp, and where it meets the Gulf of Mexico, there are two active, land-building river deltas and an extremely vibrant estuary,” Edwards said in his press release. “And, as everyone in Louisiana knows, the Atchafalaya Basin is home to a unique and cherished culture and history.”

Edwards began the process of establishing a NERR in coastal Louisiana with a letter to NOAA in July 2019. Over 14 months, LSU and Louisiana Sea Grant assisted the state in evaluating three potential sites in the Atchafalaya, Barataria, and Pontchartrain Basins, engaging over 70 volunteers across state and federal agencies, universities, and non-governmental organizations on four committees. In addition, nine public town hall meetings were held to engage
stakeholders and letters of support were collected from a cross-section of public and private interests.

This summer, the executive committee, with members from the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, the Department of Natural Resources, the Governor’s Office, and the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries evaluated the proposals, heard presentations from each basin’s team, and reviewed the scoring from a screening committee before recommending the Atchafalaya Basin to the governor.

“The Atchafalaya Coastal Basin is thrilled to be the state’s selection for a site in NOAA’s NERR system,” said Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin. “This region is more than ready and more than capable of exceling in every one of NOAA’s focus areas of stewardship, research, training, and education, and the enthusiasm for this designation from the public in our region has been outstanding.”

With the governor’s selection of the Atchafalaya, a nomination packet will next be sent to NOAA containing more detail about the state’s site selection process
and other materials by July 1. If NOAA approves of the selection and adopts Louisiana into the NERR System, an environmental impact statement and management plan will be drafted, followed by the executing of memoranda of understanding between NOAA and the state, the completion of a final environmental impact statement and management plan, a record of decision, and finally a designation ceremony.

“The addition of Atchafalaya Basin to the NERR System provides Louisiana the opportunity to tell our story at the national level of the unique and spectacular environment and culture that a delta estuary represents compared to other estuaries in the nation and around the world,” said Dr. Robert Twilley, chair of the Louisiana designation team.

Stansbury said she hopes information related to the NERR can be incorporated into the Visitor’s Center in Morgan City, connecting tourists with the reserve.

Holcomb thanked the governor, Allain and Dr. Brian Roberts of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, who has been a booster for an Atchafalaya NERR, for their work on behalf of a Basin site.

“It’s national recognition for a place that’s been overlooked,” Holcomb said, “and is so important to the rest of the country.”