Center for the inland Bays taps Bason to be the new director

The Center for the Inland Bays this week named Chris Bason as its new executive director. Bason has been acting director of the CIB since October and was selected after a four-month search.

Coastal Point: Bason

Bason follows Ed Lewandowski in the position. Lewandowski served as executive director for six years until leaving in October to accept a position with the Delaware Sea Grant Marine Advisory Service at the University of Delaware in Lewes.

Bason has the advantage of being able to hit the ground running, with his experience as acting director, and before that deputy director and science coordinator for the center. He started in with the CIB in 2004 as a project leader.

Bason said he is excited about bringing about a fresh perspective and wants the center to be a model for environmental restoration in the area.

“I want to make the watershed a regional example for community-based environmental protection,” he said. “If it’s a cost-effective and innovative project that improves the bays and benefits people, I want to demonstrate it here, and we want other people to be looking to us for how to do it.”

“We’ll build on our successful efforts, like addressing polluted runoff from highways and restoring oyster populations and eelgrass meadows to the waters of the bays,” Bason noted. “Protecting and restoring the bays through education programs, innovative restoration projects and community involvement will continue to be the center’s hallmark as we go forward.”

As director, Bason is also looking forward to finding new ways to sustain the work of the organization.

“Diversifying the center’s funding by increasing support from private individuals and foundations is a critical part of my strategy,” he noted. “We will be working to build the endowment to assure continued funding to carry out the mission. That’s a big goal for the next five years.”

A native of New Castle, Del., Bason has lived in Ocean View since 2004. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware and master’s degree from East Carolina University. He spent the first part of his career involved in the research and management of wetlands while working for organizations including the Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and East Carolina University. Bason has a life-long passion for the environment of Delaware and enjoys spending time outdoors surfing, fishing, kayaking, and hiking.

“I’m excited about this year in general,” Bason said. “At the end of last year, we released our ‘State of the Bays’ report and got a lot of excellent feedback. It really shows how interested people are. And this year, we will be updating our management plan for the estuaries, and we’ll be asking for public input for the best ways to clean up the bays.”

Bason said they expect that report to be completed sometime this spring.

“We’re looking forward to big year of work restoring oyster populations and eelgrass meadows, improving navigation, protecting the natural lands and increasing awareness about the Bays and how we all can help improve them,” he added.

The Center for the Inland Bays is a nonprofit organization, one of 28 National Estuary Programs, and works to improve water quality in the Delaware Inland Bays. For more information visit them online at www.inlandbays.org.