Notes from the Field: Restore America’s Estuaries

Restore America’s Estuaries is hosting the 6th National Conference on Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration on October 20-24, 2012 in Tampa, Florida.

What is Restore America’s Estuaries?
Restore America’s Estuaries (RAE) is a national nonprofit organization established in 1995 as an alliance of eleven community-based conservation organizations.

As partners we all work together to protect and restore the vital habitats of our nation’s estuaries. We are dedicated to working closely with community, private, and governmental organizations to preserve the extraordinary heritage of our nation’s estuaries. Our mission is to preserve the nation’s network of estuaries by protecting and restoring the lands and waters essential to the richness and diversity of coastal life.

RAE’s members include:
American Littoral Society
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana
Conservation Law Foundation
Galveston Bay Foundation
North Carolina Coastal Federation
People For Puget Sound
Save the Sound, a program of CT Fund for the Environment
Tampa Bay Watch
and of course, Save The Bay.

The 6th National Conference theme is “Restoring Ecosystems, Strengthening Communities.” Healthy coastal and estuarine habitats are critical not only to the environment and the national economy, but to regional and local economies, as well. Because human and natural systems are interdependent, their restoration strengthens and reinforces the social, economic, and environmental ties that bind communities together. Healthy coastal ecosystems mean jobs, new and better economic opportunities, and the prosperity and stability that are vitally important in the troubling economic times and high unemployment rates currently facing our nation.

Save The Bay will be participating in this years conference to talk about our community-based restoration work. We plan to present about our restoration and revegetation experiments at Arrowhead Marsh in Oakland and soil supplement experiments at Eden Landing Ecological Reserve in Hayward.  We will also showcase our Bay Environmental Stewardship Training (BEST) program, which seeks to foster a deep-seated stewardship ethic through leadership experience.

Restore America’s Estuaries biennial National Conference on Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration has become one of the most important and preeminent conferences on the coastal restoration community’s calendar. The Conference focuses attention on the challenges and opportunities facing coastal habitat restoration community. Join the restoration practitioners, civic and community leaders, consultants, scientists, educators, planners, engineers, students, volunteers, philanthropists, program managers, field staff, contractors, regulators, and others at this must-attend event!

Learn more about the conference here. We hope to see you there!

- Laura Wainer, Senior Scientist