If the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration choose to go somewhere else along the bay of Green Bay with a potential estuarine research reserve, it will not be because Door County municipalities did not try. The Town of Gibraltar recently joined six other Door County governmental bodies in their support for the reserve, which would provide a place for long-term research, education, and coastal stewardship of ecological areas near large bodies of water. If granted, Door County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Jim Schuessler says it would be a tremendous grab for the area.

The National Estuarine Research Reserve System is currently comprised of 29 areas with only one Wisconsin location based on the Great Lakes.