Public invited to learn about Inland Bays Dec. 1

The Delaware Center for the Inland Bays would like to extend a public invitation to attend the next Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee meeting Friday, Dec. 1, from 9 a.m. to noon, at the DNREC Lewes Field Facility on 901 Pilottown Road in Lewes.

STAC meetings are a great opportunity to hear presentations about the local environment, and a chance to ask questions about the latest research being conducted on the Inland Bays. This committee provides objective advice and guidance to the center's board of directors and other cooperating agencies that have interests in Delaware's Inland Bays. The meeting includes guest speakers with two engaging presentations.

Environmental problems are generally problems with human behavior. Therefore, solutions will inevitably involve changes to human behavior. Kent Messer of the University of Delaware will discuss recent research that illustrates how experimental design and behavioral economics can be used to develop effective educational programs that improve homeowner behaviors that protect the bays.

Kristin Regan and Kelly Somers of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will present a survey of baygrasses found in the Delaware Estuary. Healthy baygrasses provide spawning, nursery, and protective habitat to ecologically important species, and even prevent shoreline erosion - benefitting wildlife and humans alike!

A draft agenda and additional information about the committee and past meetings can be found at www.inlandbays.org/stac.

The Delaware Center for the Inland Bays is a nonprofit organization established in 1994, and is one of 28 National Estuary Programs. With its many partners, the CIB works to preserve, protect and restore Delaware's Inland Bays, the water that flows into them, and the watershed around them.