NOAA, STATE OFFICIALS DEDICATE $1.2 MILLION IN NEW AND RENOVATED FACILITIES
FOR TIJUANA RIVER NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESERVE

The Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve is celebrating its 25th anniversary by dedicating new and renovated facilities, including a training center and reserve office. Officials from NOAA, California State Parks, the City of Tijuana, Mexico, and other federal, state and local officials will join hundreds of volunteers to celebrate the dedication at 11 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 16.

Rep. Bob Filner will be a featured speaker, along with Timothy R.E. Keeney, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of for oceans and atmosphere; Mike Chrisman, California secretary for resources; and Ruth Coleman, director of California State Parks.

The new facilities at the reserve include a $1.2 million training center and offices, with a 100-person capacity meeting room; a $360,000 operations building with office space for up to 12 staff members; and a $20,000 research laboratory expansion adding research workspace for visiting researchers and interns. The facilities were funded by NOAA construction grants and California Park bonds.

“The Tijuana River Reserve has distinguished itself for a quarter century, working with federal and state partners to conduct research, education and outreach programs to help us learn to protect our valuable coastal resources,” said Keeney. “This reserve also has worked very effectively with partners across the border in Mexico, the source of most of the water in the estuary.”

Officials and invited guests will also plant a ceremonial 25th anniversary tree and unveil a “Wall of Fame” honoring long-time leaders and supporters of the 2,500-acre reserve. The mid-day ceremony will be followed at 2 p.m. by a public open house featuring a cake cutting ceremony, music, field trips, bird walks and tours of new facilities that will be dedicated Thursday.

As part of the ceremonies, NOAA's National Geodetic Survey will dedicate a special National Estuarine Research Program commemorative geodetic marker, similar to ones being located at each of NOAA's 27 National Estuarine Research Reserves.

The Tijuana River Reserve, which includes the Tijuana River National Wildlife Refuge, abuts the Mexican border to the south, and about 75 percent of the watershed for the estuary is in Mexico. Reserve staff members work closely with Mexican officials and communities to protect the estuary from erosion, sediment, and pollution originating from densely populated communities in canyons in the watershed.

The Tijuana River Reserve, a partnership between NOAA and the California State Parks Department, is one of 27 National Estuarine Research Reserves in 23 states and Puerto Rico. Other partners in the Tijuana River Reserve are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, whose Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge is entirely within the reserve, as well as the Southwest Wetlands Interpretive Association and the Friends of San Diego Wildlife Refuges.

The National Estuarine Research Reserve System was created by the 1972 Coastal Zone Management Act as a network of federal-state partnerships to promote healthy coastal communities and ecosystems through long-term research, education and stewardship. NOAA provides matched operations grants, as well as acquisition and construction funding, national program guidance and technical assistance, while state agencies or universities are responsible to day-to-day operations and management.

National programs across the system include the System-Wide Monitoring Program, which collects long term weather and water quality data and makes it available in near-real time as well; and the Coastal Training Program, which provides science-based training and workshops for coastal decision makers.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is celebrating 200 years of science and service to the nation. From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Commission of Fish and Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

On the Web:

NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov

National Ocean Service: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov

NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserves: http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/welcome.html

Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve: http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/TijuanaRiver/welcome.html

25th Anniversary Details: http://www.tijuanaestuary.com/calendar.asp#bday