Poetry slam and writing event mark "I Heart Estuaries Week"

The San Francisco Estuary Partnership is holding an in-person and virtual poetry slam and writing event for #iheartestuaries this week.

Between Feb. 12 and 14 the National Estuarine Research Reserve Association is promoting the I Heart Estuaries media campaign raising awareness of the benefits of the nation’s estuaries, including the San Francisco Estuary.

The San Francisco Estuary Partnership, a program of the Association of Bay Area Governments and resident of the Bay Area Metro Center, will set up a table from 11 a.m to 1 p.m. Wednesday in the lobby of 375 Beale St. in San Francisco and invites people to stop by and let your inner poet loose, or just take a selfie with our #iheartestuaries sign.

You can also participate online by submitting your best estuary inspired haiku, limerick, sonnet or free verse online through the Partnership's Facebook event — deadline is at the end of the day Thursday.

San Francisco Bay is the largest estuary — about 1,600 square miles — on the Pacific Coast and it is widely recognized as one of North America’s most ecologically important estuaries. It accounts for about 80 percent of California’s remaining wetlands, providing key habitat for a broad suite of flora and fauna — more than 750 species of plants and animals, including native and conservation status species, as well as wintering migratory shorebirds.

You can find more information on the San Francisco Estuary and estuaries in general at www.sfestuary.org or on its Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SFEstuaryPartnership/.