Become a steward of our estuaries and coastal areas! Celebrate National Estuaries Day! There are many things you can do to bring attention to our estuaries and help protect them. Read below and find an activity or event you can organize or participate in:
- Download and use all the promotional materials for 2010
- Volunteer to help or participate in an event at one of NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserves or an EPA National Estuary Program site
- Join Friends of the National Estuarine Research Reserves
- Ceate your own unique activity or event
Once you complete your activity, we want the world to know about your efforts! Just fill out a simple Tell Us! Form, and your name and action will be featured on the Get Involved section of this website!
Below you'll find a number of creative event and activity ideas. You'll also find information for coordinating with NERRS and NEP partners in your area.
Download and Use these Promotional Materials for 2010
Promotional Poster
This color poster, which includes a space to write information about local events, allows you to get the word out in your community. You can take this pdf file to your local printer and they can print copies for you. We've also created a version without a date for those who are hosting events on days other than September 25th.
Rack Card
This color brochure can be placed on bulletin boards, in racks at visitor and tourism centers, and given to volunteers to get the word out.
Banner
This banner can be hung at your event or on your building to promote National Estuaries Day. This pdf file can be taken to your local printer where they can print directly to vinyl. You can add grommets for easy hanging. The banner does not include the date, so you can use this banner year after year. (The file is 16MB so it will take a while for you to donwload, please be patient)
Volunteer to help or participate in an event organized by NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserve or an EPA National Estuary Program
- Click here to find contact information and a description of all volunteer opportunities coordinated by your local NERRS
- Click here to find opportunities with EPA's National Estuary Program
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Join Friends of the National Estuarine Research Reserves
Join or participate in an activity organized by the Friends of the NERRS! Local Friends Groups are private non-profit citizen organizations established to support and enhance environmental education, stewardship of natural and cultural resources, and scientific research of specific NERRS through volunteer initiatives, citizen involvement, and community partnerships.
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Ceate your own unique activity or event*
Learn More or Inspire others to Better Understand the Role of Estuaries
- Experience an estuary by taking a field trip.
Looking for ways to connect with our local estuaries? Learn about kayak adventures, history walks, bird watching, hiking and many other activities you can do while visiting a reserve site.
- Educational walk and picnic
Sponsor a local naturalist to lead a nature walk or cruise along a nearby river, lake, or coastal area. The tour can include identifications and discussions of the aquatic wildlife and features seen and unseen along the way. Give participants lots of time for hands on exploration and include information about our estuarine/ocean connection and how we can protect our estuarine and coastal areas.
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Public lecture
Sponsor a public lecture about estuaries by a prominent scientist, manager or environmental leader. Focus the lecture topic around a theme. For example, you could choose to focus on the topic of climate change as this is currently a hot topic and quite relevant for a discussion about the potential impacts it might have on estuaries and coastal areas. You can, of course, also choose specific local issue of interest.
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Classrooms visits
Make rounds to local schools with a fun presentation about estuaries leading up to National Estuaries Day. Make it as exciting and interactive as possible by using videos, music, and/or games. You can find several videos in our video collection that you can download and incorporate in your presentations. Check back often as we will continue to gorw this video collection.
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Book reading or signing
Host a book reading and singing by local authors that have written works about estuaries or coastal issues. Your local reserve, local bookstores and book clubs should be able to give you leads on persons to contact.
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National Estuaries webpage
Add a Web page to your organization’s existing website with a brief write up about National Estuaries Day. You can include a link to all the different resources we offer on the estuaries.gov site, and in particular to the section that speaks about the things you can do to protect estuaries.
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Conservation Action
- Estuary cleanup
- Host an estuary cleanup. Contact your local reserve site, share with them your idea and get the appropriate permissions to do organize it. Invite your friends, family and members from local organizations or business to help organize and spread the word.
- Recruit volunteers through the media, community posters, or local youth groups. Follow the cleanup with a celebratory dinner featuring sustainable seafood!
- Participate in a monitoring program
Individual reserves offer a variety of opportunities for you to get involved in a monitoring program. But, if you are not close to a reserve, just the simple action of helping enhance a local river bank or shoreline with some native vegetation will be of great value. Not only will this beautify the area, but it will help reduce storm water running into rivers, as well as reduce erosion.
- Estuarine pledge
Develop an estuarine pledge tailored to your area for visitors to sign, and enter "pledgers" in a drawing to win estuarine/coastal-themed prizes. Pledges can list things individuals can do to lessen their negative impact or increase their positive impact on the ocean.
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