A National Toolkit for Wetland Resilience

Wetlands protect coastal communities from storms, keep waters clean, provide habitat for fish and wildlife, and support coastal economies. Nationwide, U.S. wetlands help prevent an estimated $267 billion in storm damage every year. As sea levels rise and storms intensify, coastal communities are facing difficult choices about how to manage these natural resources for the future.

The National Estuarine Research Reserve System’s Wetland Resilience Toolkit is a new tool that can help. This online resource is a gateway to nine research and engagement initiatives from across the Reserve System. Each offers science-based information, practices, and tools for scientists, coastal resource managers, policymakers, funders, and anyone interested in tracking how wetlands change and protecting them for the future.

“This toolkit was made possible because Reserves function as living laboratories that are protected and monitored according to national standards,” says Rebecca Roth, executive director of the National Estuarine Research Reserve Association. “Combined with a focus on meeting community needs, this foundation makes it possible for the NERRS to advance the practical, user-focused science needed to meet the challenges facing U.S. coasts.”

The System’s 30 Reserves cover roughly 1.4 million acres of protected coastal lands and waters, including ~420,000 acres of wetlands. Within this platform, Reserve-led teams have explored how marshes, estuaries, and their wildlife are changing, assessed which marshes are resilient enough to persist and which are most vulnerable, developed processes for engaging stakeholders, and tested wetland restoration techniques.

“The toolkit is based on research that is directed toward critical national needs related to wetland management, but that is really the tip of the iceberg with regard to the NERRS impact on wetland science,” says Roth. “In 2025 alone, Reserves supported 955 active research projects across a range of related issues.”

Key to many of these projects is the NERRS System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) is the most comprehensive, longitudinal water-quality dataset for U.S. estuaries, with 300 stations collecting more than 48 million publicly available readings every year on water quality and weather conditions in real time. An estimated 24,500 scientists, educators, resource managers, students, and others accessed SWMP data in 2025 alone.

“Reserves have always been places where science helps real world problems and communities come together to solve coastal challenges,” says Roth. “This guide captures shared knowledge from across the System and makes it accessible to anyone working to protect wetlands while supporting resilient, economically vibrant coastal communities.”