The Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (JCNERR) is one of the 27 national estuarine reserves created to promote the responsible use and management of the nation's estuaries through a program combining scientific research, education, and stewardship. The JCNERR, which lies on the gently sloping Atlantic Coastal Plain of New Jersey, is the 22nd program site of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS), having been officially dedicated on October 20, 1997. It consists of more than 45,000 ha of aesthetic upland, wetland, and open water habitats. The Mullica River watershed is a concentrated patchwork of federal and state lands managed in partnership through a variety of agencies. These land areas are remarkably pristine largely because of the federally protected New Jersey Pinelands, state and federal managed lands surrounding the coastal bays, and only 553 ha of developed landscape (< 2% of the total area). Most of the land of the JCNERR is in public ownership.