During the autumn of 1998, the Center for the Inland Bays initiated a Tributary Strategy Program. Local stakeholders (industry, agriculture, municipalities, golf courses, citizens, etc.) from each of the Inland Bays sub-watersheds (Rehoboth Bay, Indian River Bay, and Little Assawoman Bay) were organized into three “Tributary Action Teams.” Teams created a body responsible for providing guidance and direction to the Center for the Inland Bays in its mission to reduce nutrient contributions and restore habitat in Delaware’s Inland Bays.

Since January 1999, “Tributary Action Teams” have been involved in a coordinated effort with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) to develop Pollution Control Strategies to meet the required Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL's) for nitrogen and phosphorous in the Inland Bays. In order to accomplish this, a public engagement model, Public Talk – Real Choices, was developed and is being applied to this program by the University of Delaware’s Cooperative Extension Agency, which is co-facilitating the process with the University’s Sea Grant Marine Advisory Service.

The purpose of Public Talk – Real Choices is to move formulation and creation of a major public policy decision from a public agency (DNREC) to the public for deliberation and dialogue. Using deliberative dialogue as the core, Public Talk goes further by engaging the public in learning about the issue, framing it for deliberation, deliberation, weighing the costs and consequences of choices, coming to public judgment, and making decisions. It is not a model which engages a small group to simply make recommendations to a public agency that subsequently “sells” the policies to the public via public workshops and public hearings ( Click here to view a copy in PDF format of the Saving Our Bays Issue Book developed by the Inland Bays Tributary Action Teams.)

The Inland Bays Tributary Action Teams have offered two sets of Pollution Control Strategy recommendations to the Delaware DNREC for review and consideration.

Call the office of the CIB at (302) 226-8105 for more information about this program or E-mail education@inlandbays.org if you are interested in becoming a member of a Tributary Action Team.