EMPOWERING COASTAL CONSERVATION

When the Kern Family created the Diana and Eric Kern with Susan Kern

Preservation Endowment at the Harte Research Institute as a planned gift from their estate, it was a way for them to help their beloved Laguna Madre and the Gulf of Mexico.

A legacy of giving can leave a profound and lasting impact on the donor and the beneficiaries, while it embodies the values and passions of the donor, creating a meaningful way to be remembered and to continue making a difference long after they are gone.

The Laguna Madre, which runs from the southern Texas coast into Mexico, is one of the few hypersaline coastal lagoons in the world and is an important habitat for a variety of wildlife and contains vast seagrass beds. However, it is also facing threats from pollution, habitat loss, and impacts from climate change.

The Kern family’s planned gift is a way to leave a lasting impact and support their beloved Laguna Madre, while also benefiting HRI and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

"Diana, Susan, and I are connected with a shared love for the Laguna Madre and our concerns for the changes we have witnessed in water quality and seagrass health," Eric Kern said. "We want to be a part of the solution and feel that supporting the work the Harte Research Institute is undertaking is the best way we can help preserve this wonderful and unique ecosystem.

“We are especially impressed the scientists and resource managers at HRI are not only providing the data necessary to define the issues but are actively engaged in creating and implementing plans which will hopefully change the issues they have identified. Our hope for the future is that their efforts will return the ‘Mother Lagoon’ to her pristine status and that future generations will be able to love, respect and enjoy it as much as we have.”

The endowment will be used to support and enhance student scholarship, teaching, and research in areas of study related to wildlife and fisheries conservation, preservation, and remediation in defined coastal environments, estuaries, bays and lagunas, particularly those in and around the Laguna Madre and Texas Gulf Coast.