CONTACT: Elleen Kane FOR IMMEDIATE RLEASE
(301) 713-3086, ext. 100 11/8/95
Federal officials want to ensure taxpayers are getting their money's worth from the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. To that end, officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will visit California Nov. 13-17 to hear local views on the reserve's resource management.
To kick off the review, a public meeting has been scheduled for 7 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 15, at the Reserve Visitors Center, Watsonville, Calif.
The site visit is part of a full evaluation process that assesses the reserve's progress in:
- resource conservation; - estuarine research and monitoring; - educating state residents on the effect people have on the marine environment and the slough's impact on the local environment and economy; - facility and staffing issues, and - land acquisition.
The evaluation will also examine the reserve's compliance with the terms of federal grants received over the past three years.
The 1995 evaluation visit includes interviews and meetings between the local, state and federal agency officials, as well as with local residents and environmental and business organizations. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management will conduct the evaluation.
The Elkhorn Slough was designated a National Estuarine Research Reserve in 1979 and is one of 22 reserves in the National Estuarine Research Reserve System. The system was created under the 1972 Coastal Zone Management Act explicitly for research and community education.
Unlike the National Estuary Program run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state governments manage the National Estuarine Research Reserves through a state-federal partnership. Through this cooperative effort, the National Estuarine Research Reserve System provides critical information, exposure, and protection for irreplaceable estuarine resources.
For more information or to schedule a meeting with the evaluation team, contact team leader Maggie Ernst at (301) 713-3090, ext. 111.