2018 WET Keynote Speaker
Dr. Walter Boynton
Walter Boynton, from University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Studies, has been a leading scientific researcher of the Chesapeake Bay for more than 40 years. His groundbreaking research helped establish that excess nutrients degrade the Bay’s water quality and habitats, and offered new insights into how the Bay’s ecosystem works---insights that initially drew controversy but are now widely accepted.
He coauthored one of the first scientific papers, still widely cited, that implicated excess nitrogen washing into the Bay from farms, lawns, and other human sources, which has damaged the Bay as well as other estuarine ecosystems worldwide. He worked for years to persuade natural resources managers and policy makers to monitor nutrients in the Bay and to take bold actions to reduce nutrient loads. He helped design the Chesapeake Bay’s monitoring effort, still considered one of the best in the world.
Boynton, an international consultant and public speaker, is noted for his ability to communicate complicated science to the public and to legislators in understandable terms, and he takes seriously the notion that science needs to be brought to bear in local and practical ways. This Professor Emeritus has published over 100 scientific papers and garnered numerous awards. His work has tied together the ecosystems of Maryland from the western mountains to the coastal ocean.
Dr. Walter Boynton
Walter Boynton, from University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Studies, has been a leading scientific researcher of the Chesapeake Bay for more than 40 years. His groundbreaking research helped establish that excess nutrients degrade the Bay’s water quality and habitats, and offered new insights into how the Bay’s ecosystem works---insights that initially drew controversy but are now widely accepted.
He coauthored one of the first scientific papers, still widely cited, that implicated excess nitrogen washing into the Bay from farms, lawns, and other human sources, which has damaged the Bay as well as other estuarine ecosystems worldwide. He worked for years to persuade natural resources managers and policy makers to monitor nutrients in the Bay and to take bold actions to reduce nutrient loads. He helped design the Chesapeake Bay’s monitoring effort, still considered one of the best in the world.
Boynton, an international consultant and public speaker, is noted for his ability to communicate complicated science to the public and to legislators in understandable terms, and he takes seriously the notion that science needs to be brought to bear in local and practical ways. This Professor Emeritus has published over 100 scientific papers and garnered numerous awards. His work has tied together the ecosystems of Maryland from the western mountains to the coastal ocean.