The narragansett BAY nerr (nbnerr or reserve) was designated in 1980 and is in the state of rhode island (RI)

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) received a $1,258,525 Cooperative Agreement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the Coastal Zone Management Estuarine Research Reserves program (CFDA 11.420), awarded October 1, 2025, with performance through September 30, 2027. The award supports the operations, research, monitoring, education, and stewardship activities of the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NBNERR), designated in 1980. RIDEM requested $880,967 in federal funds matched by $377,558 in state funds to support full-time and seasonal staff positions, including a Parks Manager, Natural Resources Operations Technician, and seasonal naturalists employed directly by RIDEM, along with contractual staff positions administered through a cooperative agreement with the Rhode Island Audubon Society.

The reserve will deliver comprehensive products and services organized across ten programmatic tasks focused on water quality, ecological and community resilience, and habitat management. Key deliverables include implementation of the abiotic component of the System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP), providing high-quality water and meteorological data from long-term monitoring sites within the reserve and throughout Narragansett Bay, along with interpretive data reports. The reserve will also conduct salt marsh wetland and water level monitoring, rapid assessment research operations, and maintain education and coastal training programs through its Education Coordinator, System-Wide Monitoring Program Coordinator, Research Coordinator, Stewardship Coordinator, and Coastal Training Program Coordinator positions.

The reserve is administered by the RI department environmental management (RIDEM) which is submitting this application for fiscal year 2025 funds to support operations, equipment purchases, research and monitoring, education, training and stewardship activities for the period of september 1, 2025 through february 28, 2027. RIDEM is requesting $880,967 in federal funds which will be matched by $377,558 of state funds from the RI department of environmental management. The match covers salary, fringe and overhead for the full-time state-employed parks manager (PM), and natural resources operations technician (NROT), two seasonal naturalists, and 49% of the reserve managers salary. The remaining permanent reserve staff members are contractual employees through a cooperative agreement with the rhode island audubon society of RI (ASRI). Contractual staff include the research coordinator, education coordinator (EC), system wide monitoring program coordinator (SWMPC), stewardship coordinator (SC), coastal training program coordinator (CTPC), and administrative assistant (AA). During FY25, nbnerr will be focusing on activities divided among 10 tasks organized by program sector, project, theme, or support function. Specific activities will be guided by priorities outlined in the reserves management plan. Areas of focus for sector activities will include water quality, ecological and community resilience, and habitat management. Nbnerr will implement the abiotic component of the system wide monitoring program (SWMP) and provide high-quality water and meteorological data from long-term sites located within the reserve as well as interpretive reports of these data. Additionally, salt marsh wetland and water level site data will be collected at reserve sites as well as sites throughout narragansett BAY. Research operations will continue to implement rapid assessment protocols, biological monitoring, and mapping programs to detect changes in species composition over time, and the reserve manager will continue to coordinate and build capacity for the statewide salt marsh restoration, assessment, and monitoring program. Stewardship activities will focus on habitat enhancement and, where possible, invasive species management. Education and outreach activities engage a wide array of K-16 and public audiences; the reserve will continue to work with partner organizations to conduct both day and overnight programs for a variety of age groups throughout the year. Communication tools such as the reserve website, various social media platforms, and one- pagers will be used to raise awareness of the reserve. The education program will continue to engage the public at outreach events such as the sustainable fishing contest as well as through stewardship activities to increase understanding and ownership of the BAY's coastal habitats. The CTP will continue to focus on priority watershed issues such as coastal development, community resilience, stormwater management, shoreline public access, and science communication.