Meeting set to get public's ideas on La. NERR site

Members of the public will be asked at a meeting Wednesday for their ideas about a site for a National Estuarine Research Reserve in the Atchafalaya Basin.

The meeting will be at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Morgan City Municipal Auditorium.

A virtual meeting is set for noon Thursday via Google Meet or by phone. The Google Meet link is meet.Google.com/gya-dsaj-eob.

The phone number is 1-470-485-8283. The meeting ID is 749 865 797#.

The Basin was nominated by Gov. John Bel Edwards in June from among six potential Louisiana sites for the state's first research reserve, or NERR.

More than 30 NERRs dot the U.S. coastline and the Great Lakes. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration coordinates the network in cooperation with state governments and funds the bulk of NERR operations.

NERRs offer research opportunities in the ecological zones where rivers meeting the sea. They also present monitoring and educational opportunities, and supporters of a St. Mary site are hoping for employment and tourism benefits as well. The concept is flexible enough to allow for local needs, and the same state land rules that applied before the NERR will continue in effect.