Each year the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, which is comprised of 28 Reserves from all around the country, meet up in the fall, and typically at a different Reserve year to year. In mid-November this year we had our meeting at the Chesapeake Bay Reserve in Virginia. We brainstormed new ideas, talked about what initiatives worked and didn’t work, and we motivated and inspired one another of why we are doing what we are doing. Somewhere around 250 of us NERRd’s (National Estuarine Research Reserve employees) working together to help educate others and protect the resources we all love to recreate in. What I’ve come to realize is that folks within the NERRS are like-minded, enthusiastic about their work, friendly to each other, don’t mind getting in the mud, love teaching people no matter what role they are in, and are passionate about conservation and good science.
In November 2017, the Mission-Aransas Reserve will be hosting the NERRS Annual Meeting in Corpus Christi, Texas so that we can show others around the country what we’ve been up to and we can share new concepts to stimulate reasons for us all to continue loving our careers and participate in celebrating how lucky each of us are to be doing what we love. No matter what your profession, my hope for all of us is that we wake up tomorrow and say, “YES!”, that we surround ourselves with a productive team, and that we feel like we are making progress in a meaningful way that helps others unite towards a greater good.
The staff of the Mission-Aransas National Estaurine Research Reserve will host the national system's annual meeting in 2017.
