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Fresh Leadership at Narragansett Bay Estuary Program

Judith Swift, Director of the Coastal Institute and Professor of Communications at URI, has been chosen to serve as the Estuary Program's new Chair.

The Narragansett Bay Estuary Program celebrated a new beginning Wednesday with freshly appointed leadership charged with guiding the protection of Narragansett Bay and the Bay’s upper watersheds in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Judith Swift, the Director of the Coastal Institute and Professor of Communications at the University of Rhode Island, has been chosen to serve as the new Chair of the Estuary Program and Tom Borden, an environmental and land use attorney with more than 25 years of experience in watershed protection, has been named the new Program Director. 

As part of the Estuary Program’s official reorganization, 12 new members were also appointed to the Management Committee at Wednesday's meeting in the Program’s new offices in Providence. The Management Committee now includes 26 environmental stakeholders from across Rhode Island and Massachusetts to ensure that the Estuary Program is guided by a diverse group of representatives from the region’s environmental organizations, academic institutions, watershed groups, and key state and federal agencies. 

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Although Narragansett Bay itself is primarily located in Rhode Island, more than 60% of the Bay’s watershed is located in Massachusetts. Accordingly, the Management Committee was expanded to purposefully include a broader set of representatives from Massachusetts.

The Committee also appointed John King, Professor of Oceanography at URI to serve as Chair of an interim group to form a new Science Advisory Committee that will help guide the Estuary Program’s scientific agenda. Committee members will strengthen the scientific focus of the program and ensure that the best available science is integrated into management recommendations to achieve effective management in both Narragansett Bay and its watershed lands.

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Janet Coit, Director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management shared her enthusiasm for the Estuary Program’s new leaders. 

“Through her longtime experience as a director of the University’s Coastal Institute, Judith Swift brings critical skills that will help scientists, grassroots groups and policymakers make more informed decisions and create a cleaner, healthier environment throughout Narragansett Bay’s watershed,” she said. “With the addition of Tom Borden as the new Program Director, the Estuary will greatly benefit from his Clean Water Act expertise and his more than 25 years of experience in watershed management and resource protection.” 


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