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The North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve is one of 30 reserves around the coastal United States that form the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). The NERRS was established by the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 and is dedicated to the conservation, research, education, and stewardship in America’s estuaries. The North Inlet-Winyah Bay (NI-WB) NERR was designated in 1992 as a partnership between National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of South Carolina’s Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences. We are headquartered at the internationally recognized Baruch Marine Field Laboratory in Georgetown, South Carolina, and operate in collaboration with the Belle W. Baruch Foundation, which owns and manages the Hobcaw Barony property. South Carolina is also home to another NERR, the ACE Basin NERR in the southern coastal region, which is hosted by the Department of Natural Resources.