The Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve is an estuary reserve in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. The

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

is the largest

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

in the United States and is one of the most productive bodies of water in the world. The Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve reflects the diversity of estuarine habitats found within the Bay and consists of three components: * A freshwater

tidal marsh A tidal marsh (also known as a type of "tidal wetland") is a marsh found along rivers, coasts and estuaries which floods and drains by the tidal movement of the adjacent estuary, sea or ocean. Tidal marshes are commonly zoned into lower marshes ( ...

at Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary located 20 miles (32 km) from

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

* A freshwater tidal marsh at the Otter Point Creek component 19 miles (30 km) northeast of

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

* A

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

at the Monie Bay component located 20 miles (32 km) from Salisbury, Maryland. Monie Bay was designated as a reserve in 1985. Jug Bay and Otter Point Creek were designated in 1990. The purpose of the Maryland Reserve, managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, is to manage protected estuarine areas as natural field laboratories and to develop and implement a coordinated program of research, monitoring, education and volunteer activities.

Awards

* Robert Finton, an employee at the Reserve, was posthumously awarded an Environmental Hero Award by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one of the Reserve's partner agencies.

References

External links

* * {{Protected Areas of Maryland National Estuarine Research Reserves of the United States Protected areas of Maryland IUCN Category IV