Through a 2020 catalyst project, the Heʻeia and Kachemak Bay Reserves worked to advance the equitable representation of cultural ecosystem services in estuary stewardship by providing practical information and opportunities for facilitated exchange.

Cultural ecosystem services (CES), one of four main categories of ecosystem services, are often described as the non-material benefits that humans receive from their interactions with the environment.

The Habitat Heartbeats project is developing a monitoring system to integrate living organisms such as oysters and mussels ("biosentinels”) with existing monitoring efforts.

The Habitat Heartbeats project was featured during the 2023 virtual symposium showcasing recent scientific studies related to the restoration and health of San Diego estuaries including the Tijuana River Estuary, San Diego Bay, and Los Peñasquitos Lagoon.

This table summarizes the key findings related to the fish capture, transport and husbandry practices tested in the 2020 catalyst project led by the Kachemak Bay Reserve to catalyze future research on the mechanisms of paralytic shellfish toxin transfer from forage fish to upper trophic populations.

Staff from the Kachemak Bay NERR expanded research collaborations and completed proof of concept activities to catalyze future research on the mechanisms of paralytic shellfish toxin transfer from forage fish to upper trophic populations– an increasing concern after statewide seabird die-offs and

A peer-reviewed article describing several of the biosensor tools and the design process used to build them, as part of the 2021 Collaborative Research project incorporating bivalve biosensors into estuary monitoring infrastructure. 

This 2021 paper from the University of South Florida discusses how machine learning was used to map aquifers throughout the Kenai Lowlands to locate groundwater discharge, providing a framework to extend this method of modeling groundwater to other reserves.