The Mobile Bay National Estuary Program and its backers bade farewell to the program’s longtime director Wednesday and endorsed a slate of conservation priorities for the decade ahead.
Roberta Swann is retiring at the end of the year. She joined the program as deputy director to Capt. David Yeager in 2004 and became director in 2009, meaning she has been deputy director or director for more than half the program’s existence.
Commissioned by Congress in the late ‘80s, the NEP is not a regulatory agency, but it is a key part of a Management Conference that “provides community leaders from industry, academia, government, non-profits, grassroots groups, and citizens with a principal voice in the decision-making process.” One of its key functions is to develop and implement a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) for Mobile Bay and surrounding waters.
Environmental consultant Troy Ephraim led the tributes at an annual meeting held Wednesday at the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center. Ephraim said that he first met Swann more than 25 years ago, when he was a member of the Prichard City Council and she encouraged him to join the NEP board.
“Ever since that day, 25-plus years ago, my life has not been the same, both very personally and professionally,” he said. “I owe a lot to this lady and to the NEP organization as a whole. Her leadership, her vision, her drive, her grit and her determination and just sheer, sheer purposeful will to bring about a positive change for our environment, our coastal environment, and the improvements that have been made under the direction and the collaboration of so many others under that direction has made a true, profound difference in who we are and what we do and why we’re here this morning.”
Chris Blankenship, the commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, spent some time cataloging accomplishments of the NEP under Swann’s leadership, including its role in protecting thousands of acres of undeveloped, ecologically sensitive land and advocating for improved water quality. He praised her particularly for her skill in developing partnerships with the many public and private partners involved in such efforts.
“I appreciate her work, the work that she’s done trying to herd all of these cats into to put together the CCMP and the State of the Bay and a lot of the other work that’s done,” he said. “Helping coordinate community involvement, getting the message out about some of the work … and more than anything, just coordinating among such a diverse group of people.
