Two new advisory council members appointed for Delaware Botanic Gardens

The Delaware Botanic Gardens has added two new members to its advisory council, Henry DeWitt and Michael E. Riska. The additions bring to 14 the number of professionals who provide their expertise to further development of Delmarva's first botanical garden. Delaware first lady Carla Markell serves as advisory council chair. The new members bring long service to the environmental community as well as nonprofit and financial management experience.

DeWitt, of Henlopen Acres outside Rehoboth Beach, founded DeWitt and Associates, a company whose software is used by NASA ground networks to control satellites. In addition to currently consulting with NASA, he is a former commissioner of Rehoboth Beach who now serves on the Henlopen Acres Tree Committee. DeWitt is also a member of the Rehoboth Art League finance committee and is a former chair of its audit committee. In addition, he is a member of the board of the Rehoboth Sister Cities organization, a former member of the Baltimore chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Baltimore Fund for Educational Excellence, and a volunteer with the Sussex YMCA masters swimming team. He holds a PhD in computer science and plays bagpipes for local events. His ties to Rehoboth Beach go back 30 years, and he has lived full time in the area for 12 years. "My yard has become a gardening project designed to provide an environment friendly to wildlife and the environment," he said. "We have two loblolly pines that may be among the biggest in Delaware. And I've been raising our own fruits and vegetables most of my life."

Riska, of Hockessin, was awarded the Nature Conservancy's Lifetime Conservation Achievement Award in 1997. He retired in 2011 as executive director of the Delaware Nature Society, where he had served since 1984, including directing its education programs. The Delaware Nature Society works to improve the environment through conservation, advocacy, and education. Riska has also been honored with the Exceptional Leadership Award and the President's Award from the Association of Nature Center Administrators in 1999 and the Delaware Center for Horticulture's Mary Marsh Award for Horticultural Excellence and Service to the Community in 2015.

In retirement, he has served since 2012 as a board member of the Delaware Nature Society, Delaware Center for Horticulture, Brandywine Baroque, and North American Clivia Society. He also advises groups including Children in Nature/No Child Left Inside and environmental studies programs at the Tatnall School in Greenville and Providence Country Day School in Rhode Island. Riska's environmental education experience extends back to teaching positions with both the Delaware Nature Society and the Tatnall School, where he was a science teacher and middle school science department chair. He has served in addition as an associate professor at the University of Delaware.

A consistent blue-ribbon winner at the Philadelphia Flower Show and Longwood Gardens Clivia Show, Riska tends his personal native plant garden, which has been featured in the book “The Living Landscape” by Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy. He also volunteers at Longwood Gardens.

Markell says, "The Delaware Botanic Gardens is fortunate to gain the wisdom of these talented people. I've had the pleasure of working directly with Mike Riska as cochairs of the Ambassadors Group for Children in Nature/No Child Left Inside. Both he and Henry DeWitt are environmental leaders and hands-on gardeners who will only enrich the programs of this exciting new garden in our state."

The Delaware Botanic Gardens is a 10-year, multiphase plan to bring a sense of place to Delmarva with a major public garden that reflects southern Delaware's unique coastal plain. Its mission is to create inspirational, educational and sustainable gardens in Delaware for the benefit and enjoyment of residents and visitors alike. The project has already attracted luminaries such as the Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf, the award-winning architecture firm Lake/Flato, and Delaware's own Rodney Robinson, a landscape architect who has created and restored gardens throughout the state.

For more information on the Delaware Botanic Gardens, including membership and donations, go to www.delawaregardens.org.