U.S. Code Title 16 Section 1456d created the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program to protect important coastal and estuarine areas that have significant conservation, recreation, ecological, historical, or aesthetic values, or that are threatened by conversion from their natural or recreational state to other uses.Hundreds of acres of the coastal and estuarine habitat acquired through CELCP have been added to the National Estuarine Research Reserve System.

Marine Protected Areas

Four of the National Estuarine Research Reserves were among the charter members of the network of Marine Protected Areas designated in 2009 in compliance with the Presidential Executive Order 13158 (2000), which established the Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Center Under the Executive Order, NOAA's MPA Center, in cooperation with the Department of Interior,developed a framework for the national system of MPAs. The MPA Center provides federal, state, territorial, tribal, and local governments with the information, technologies, and strategies to support the system.