Grand BAY national estuarine research reserve project description the grand BAY national estuarine research reserve (GNDNERR) is located in the state of mississippi

The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) received a $1,258,525 Cooperative Agreement award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the Coastal Zone Management Estuarine Research Reserves (CFDA 11.420) program. The award provides funding from July 1, 2024 through December 31, 2025 to support operations, research and monitoring, education, training, and stewardship activities at the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Mississippi. Key focus areas include habitat protection, water quality, and environmental change monitoring, which align with the National Estuarine Research Reserve System's strategic plan. The award includes $880,967 in federal funds, matched by $377,558 in state funds from the Mississippi Tidelands Trust Fund. A portion of the work is conducted through a partnership with Mississippi State University.

The reserve is administered by the mississippi department of marine resources (MDMR) who is submitting this application for fiscal year (FY) 2024 funds to support operations, research and monitoring, education, training and stewardship activities from july 1, 2024, through december 31, 2025. The MDMR is requesting $880,967 in federal funds, which will be matched by $377,558 in state funds from the mississippi tidelands trust fund in the form of 30% support to all project costs (except indirect). During FY2024, programmatic efforts at the GNDNERR are focused on habitat protection, water quality and environmental change and are consistent with the national estuarine research reserve systems (NERRS) 2017-2022 strategic plan focus areas and 2023-2027 grand BAY nerr management plan. Tasks and outcomes presented are linked to actions in the grand BAY management plan that was completed in june 2023. Recent program highlights have previously been reported to NOAA for the FY23 grand BAY nerr operations award in project progress reports. A portion of this work occurs through a partnership with mississippi state university (MSU). Additionally, we work on a large-scale wet pine savanna restoration and monitoring with partners as part of the nrda land acquisition and habitat management project which is a separate contract with mdeq. We also have several projects working with the city of moss point on stormwater management through green infrastructure, including a separate grant from U.S. Environmental protection agency, NOAA OCM, nfwf, and others, and a variety of other external and internal projects that support program objectives and our reserves mission.