Inside the Center for the Inland Bays’ (CIB) environmentally-friendly new building at the Indian River Inlet on Friday, Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) announced his dedication to the environment and the center, which promotes, restores and researches the Little Assawoman, Rehoboth and Indian River Bays.
Coastal Point • SUBMITTED:
Rep. Mike Castle speaks at the Center for the Inland Bays.
Castle and the U.S. House of Representatives secured $24.4 million for the National Estuary program funding in their 2007-fiscal-year Interior appropriations bill after the Bush administration recommended just $18.1 million. Some $500,000 of the program’s national funding will likely go to the CIB and the 27 other recognized local programs in the NEP.
Castle told those assembled at the CIB on Friday that achieving the $24.4 million figure was a victory in the house after the administration’s recommendation for a $6 million decrease.
“Rapid development and intensive agriculture in a growing coastal-resort area pose great challenges to Delaware’s Inland Bays,” Castle said. “As we all work toward the goal of ensuring that we can fish and swim in our bays, I think it is important to highlight some of my environmental priorities in Washington, such as this funding for the NEP.”
CIB executive director Ed Lewandowski called the $500,000 figure — which the center also received last year — a success “in this climate of constricting budgets.” Two years ago, the Center received just $300,000.
“He’s been a supporter of this program since its inception,” Lewandowski said of Castle, adding that he recommended the Delaware Inland Bays estuary for participation in the National Estuary Program in 1988. “This is a huge success.”
The CIB was formed as a non-profit organization in 1994 “to promote the wise use and enhancement of the Inland Bays and their watershed,” according to the center’s Web site at www.inlandbays.org.
The 30-square-mile coastal bays in Delaware produce a watershed of 804 acres, according the National Estuary Program. Solar and other green technologies line the Center’s new building at the inlet, helping promote responsible use of the fragile surrounding environment.
The center, in collaboration with the Indian River School District, also sponsors trips to James Farm Ecological Preserve in Ocean View, and a new Inland Bays Interactive Learning Center is available for fifth grade students to promote the bays.
The Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee — one of two standing CIB committees — works with local and regional experts to study and research the bays and promote their findings. And James Farm is the Center’s stand-out restoration project, while the Shellfish Gardening Program is a demonstration program with an eye toward becoming a full-fledged restoration project that could restore shellfish to areas where they have been depleted.
For more information, visit the CIB Web site.