Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve manages four diverse sites along the largest estuary in the United States. The habitats it protects range from oyster reefs and seagrass beds to tidal wetlands and mudflats. The Reserve works to promote understanding of estuarine and watershed systems through training and education, conserve coastal resources and water quality, understand human and climate change impacts on ecosystems, and develop ways to monitor coastal environments.