The Reserve

Kachemak Bay is the largest reserve in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Estuarine Research Reserve System, a network of 28 areas throughout the United States selected to be protected for long-term research, water-quality monitoring, education and coastal stewardship. It encompasses over 370,000 acres of estuarine and upland habitats and is one of the most productive, diverse and intensively used estuaries in Alaska.

(larger, interactive map)

You can read more about the reserve on the NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserve System page as well as from the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Alaska Center for Conservation Science. 

The Reserve also shares interest in learning about and maintaining the health of Kachemak Bay with these neighbor organizations and projects:

• Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
• Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies
• Cook Inlet Keeper
• Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council
• Hydropalooza
• Kachemak Bay State Park and State Wilderness Park
• Kachemak Heritage Land Trust
• Kasitsna Bay Laboratory
• Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems
• Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council
• Seldovia Village Tribe
• Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network