Each NEP has a Management Conference (MC) that consists of diverse stakeholders and uses a collaborative, consensus-building approach to implement the CCMP. Moreover, each MC ensures that the CCMP is uniquely tailored to the local environmental conditions and is based on local input, thereby supporting local priorities.
What is the National Estuary Program (NEP)?
The National Estuary Program (NEP) is an EPA place-based program to protect and restore the water quality and ecological integrity of estuaries of national significance. Currently, 28 estuaries located along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts and in Puerto Rico are designated as estuaries of national significance.
How many estuaries are there in the United States?
Currently, 28 estuaries located along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts and in Puerto Rico are designated as estuaries of national significance. Each NEP focuses within a study area that includes the estuary and surrounding watershed.
What are estuaries and why are they important?
Learn how to protect estuaries. View educational materials. What Are Estuaries? Estuaries are places where freshwater from rivers mix with saltwater from the sea. Learn more about estuaries. The NEP is a collaborative, efficient, and adaptable ecosystem-based network of organizations that protects and restores 28 estuaries of national significance.
What is a National Ecosystem Plan (NEP)?
EPA’s NEP is a non-regulatory program that improves the waters, habitats and living resources of 28 estuaries across the country. Each NEP develops and implements a long-term plan (referred to as a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP)) based on local priorities to guide their efforts.
What is the main focus of the National Estuary Program?
The National Estuary Program (NEP) is an EPA place-based program to protect and restore the water quality and ecological integrity of estuaries of national significance. Currently, 28 estuaries located along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts and in Puerto Rico are designated as estuaries of national significance.
What is the NEP grant?
In the United States, the National Estuary Program (NEP) provides grants to states where governors have identified nationally significant estuaries that are threatened by pollution, land development, or overuse.
Why are estuaries important?
Estuaries filter out sediments and pollutants from rivers and streams before they flow into the ocean, providing cleaner waters for humans and marine life.
How does the community participate in helping to protect and conserve estuaries and intertidal zones?
In Your Community: Volunteer with your local environmental organizations. Pick up trash; participate in trash clean-up days. Help plant trees or seagrass, or remove invasive vegetation. Don’t litter: streets and storm drains empty into rivers and streams that drain into our estuaries.
What is NEP geography?
The NEP is a collaborative, efficient, and adaptable ecosystem-based network of organizations that protects and restores 28 estuaries of national significance.
How many estuaries are there in the United States?
There are more than 100 of these water bodies along the coast of the United States—is there an estuary near you? Read on to learn about some of America’s estuaries.
What benefits do estuaries provide us?
Estuaries have important commercial value and their resources provide economic benefits for tourism, fisheries and recreational activities. The protected coastal waters of estuaries also support important public infrastructure, serving as harbors and ports vital for shipping and transportation.
How do estuaries help the economy?
Estuaries are often the economic centers of coastal communities. Estuaries provide habitat for more than 75 percent of the U.S. commercial fish catch, and an even greater percentage of the recreational fish catch. The total fish catch in estuaries contributes billions of dollars a year to the U.S. economy.
Why are estuaries important Give five importance of estuaries?
Estuaries have an important commercial value. Their resources provide tourism, fisheries and recreational activities to have a greater economic benefit. The protected coastal waters of estuaries also support public infrastructure such as harbors and ports which are a vital part of shipping and transportation.
What are the different ways in protecting and conserving our estuaries ecosystem?
10 Ways You Can Protect Our Estuary#1: Become a Citizen Scientist. … #2: Grow Native Plant Species. … #3: Use Responsible Boating Practices. … #4: Keep Use of Fertilizers to a Minimum. … #5: Clean up your Pet Waste. … #6: Inspect Your Septic System. … #7: Volunteer with Local Environmental Organizations.More items…•
How can we preserve and conserve estuaries and intertidal zone posters?
0:372:21Use natural fertilizers trimmed grass clippings from your lawn can be used as a natural fertilizer.MoreUse natural fertilizers trimmed grass clippings from your lawn can be used as a natural fertilizer. Grow plants in your garden choose plants that are native to your area.
What are the 5 practices that contribute to the destruction of estuaries and intertidal zones?
Industrial pollution, overharvesting of aquatic species, dredging, draining and paving over estuarine waterways, oil spills, and population growth in coastal watersheds are some threats to estuaries and intertidal zones.
National Estuary Program Map
The Peconic Estuary is one of 28 recognized “Estuaries of National Significance” identified by the US EPA’s National Estuary Program (NEP) . The NEP was established by Congress in 1987 through Section 320 of the Clean Water Act to restore and protect estuaries of national significance.
More Resources
ANEP’s NEP Fact Sheet
Fact sheet about the National Estuary Program produced by ANEP.
NEP Communities Design Local Solutions for Restoring Habitat
Crew of five, installing filled rope “sausage” for shore protection along boundary between mudflats and estuarine grasses. At the 28 National Estuary Program (NEP) Study Areas around the country, local stakeholders work together to identify and prioritize the problems in their estuaries.
Examples of NEP Habitat Plans
Visit Habitat Restoration Prioritization Framework Exit to view an NEP Habitat Restoration Strategy from the Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership.
What Are Estuaries?
Estuaries are places where freshwater from rivers mix with saltwater from the sea. Learn more about estuaries.
Why Are Estuaries Important?
Learn about the important resources, benefits and services that estuaries provide.
What Are Estuaries?
Estuaries are places where freshwater from rivers mix with saltwater from the sea. Learn more about estuaries.
National Estuary Programs (NEPs) in Action
The following success stories demonstrate the significant work being done, and the broad range of issues being addressed by the NEPs. Each highlights how the NEPs implement the Clean Water Act in ways that are effective, efficient, collaborative and adaptive.
Smart Growth through the NEPs
Because growth and development can have a profound effect on water quality, many NEPs have shown leadership in local Smart Growth efforts to protect and improve their estuaries:
What is a National Estuary Program?
The National Estuary Program (NEP) is an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) place-based program to protect and restore the water quality and ecological integrity of estuaries of national significance.
Expanding the NEP Role: the 2000 Reauthorization
In the first 13 years of the NEP, 18 Management Conferences had been established and completed CCMPs for different estuaries around the country; another 10 NEPs were in development but had not been federally approved. BTNEP was one of the initial 18 NEPs to be established.
2016 Reauthorization
Enacted in 2016 with bi-partisan support, Public Law 114-162 authorizes $26 million per year to support the NEP from 2016 through 2020.