Who We Are

Since the late 1980's, Southwest Florida has been one of the nation's fastest developing regions. Such unprecedented growth has resulted in profound and lasting impacts to the coast, and has challenged communities to seek ways to improve decisions about land use, environmental regulations, water resources and coastal management. The professionals that make these decisions include government, academic, non-profit, agriculture, development and real estate, marine trades, and many others.

In response to these growing pressures, the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Staff and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Estuarine Reserves Division have teamed to deliver this unique experience and develop the Coastal Training Program. This program seeks to establish permanent regional forums for training professionals involved in coastal decisions and targets specific audiences with an expanded range of training formats in addition to the traditional workshop. Proven to be a successful forum for training and networking coastal professionals, the coastal training model was eventually adopted for use by two other sites in Florida as well as the other 24 National Research Reserves in the U.S.

The Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve was the first in the Reserve System to implement the Coastal Training concept. Since then, the Coastal Training Program has become the largest in the nation. With ongoing classes and opportunites, the Coastal Training Program brings the latest scientific information and policy to scientists, stakeholders, key decision-makers, elected officials, and the general public.