Contact: Eliot Hurwitz FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(301) 713-3066 5/15/95
A federal evaluation team will visit Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve in Huron, Ohio, May 15- 19 to check on a special state/federal partnership project and hear local views on the management of the program. The team is from the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
As part of the National Estuarine Reserve Program, NOAA's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management provides matching funds for education, monitoring and research programs, and operation and management of the reserve's visitors center. The site visit, part of a routine evaluation process, will include interviews and meetings with local and federal agency officials and other interested parties. The team will look at issues of resource protection, research and monitoring, education and interpretation, facility development, staffing and land acquisition.
The federal NERR program was established under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, which sets forth specific national guidelines and objectives for program participation.
The Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve, located at a drowned stream mouth that drains into Lake Erie, is the only example of a Great Lakes fresh water estuary in the national system of reserves. Hundreds of species of plants, invertebrates, mammals, fishes and birds live in the reserveþs many habitats, including the endangered American bald eagle, as well as the eastern fox snake, sharp-shinned hawk and spotted turtle. The reserve is home to a wide variety of research projects and environmental monitoring programs and has an active outreach and education program.
A public meeting has been scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 17, 1995, at the Old Woman Creek Visitor's Center, 2514 Cleveland Road East, Huron, Ohio. For more information or to schedule a meeting with the evaluation team, contact Patmarie S. Maher or Cheryl A. Graham, evaluation team leaders, at (301) 713-3090, ext. 116.