{"id":58727,"date":"2014-03-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/westerly-conservationist-named-distinguished-fellow-of-coastal-institute\/"},"modified":"2014-03-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-03-06T00:00:00","slug":"westerly-conservationist-named-distinguished-fellow-of-coastal-institute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2014\/03\/westerly-conservationist-named-distinguished-fellow-of-coastal-institute\/","title":{"rendered":"Westerly Conservationist Named Distinguished Fellow of Coastal Institute"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tChaplin Barnes has led protection and preservation efforts in Watch Hill<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 March 6, 2014 \u2013 Chaplin B. \u201cChap\u201d Barnes of Westerly has been given the first äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾ Coastal Institute Distinguished Senior Fellow award, its highest honor, at a reception this evening at the Ocean House in Watch Hill. The announcement coincided with an airing of a documentary featuring Barnes, \u201cWatch Hill: Portrait of a New England Seaside Village,\u201d on Rhode Island PBS, which is based on his 2005 book, \u201cWatch Hill Through Time.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe are honored to recognize the work of a model and stalwart steward of the environment, especially for his tireless work protecting all the many things that make Watch Hill the beautiful community that it is and for his dedication to protecting the Napatree Point Conservation Area,\u201d said Judith Swift, Director of the Coastal Institute. \u201cThe work that Chap has done to protect and preserve the natural and cultural resources of Watch Hill embodies the vision and values of the Coastal Institute.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nChap Barnes is a conservationist and has been instrumental in the protection and stewardship of the Napatree Point Conservation Area. Napatree is one of Rhode Island\u2019s most pristine beach ecosystems; it is a biodiversity hotpot for shorebirds and a destination for tens of thousands of visitors all year round. An attorney, Barnes was also a senior advisor for international affairs for the President\u2019s Council on Environmental Quality from 1981-1982.<\/p>\n


\nTo understand the ecological complexities of the Napatree ecosystem, Barnes commissioned the Rhode Island Natural History Survey to develop a scientifically accurate baseline inventory of Napatree in 2005, and he engaged the Survey to reassess the Napatree ecosystem in 2010. This scientific \u201creport card\u201d for Napatree became a reality with the completion of the \u201c2013 State of Napatree\u201d report.<\/p>\n


\nAnother recent conservation achievement that Chaplin led was the development and adoption of conservation easement on the Watch Hill Fire District parcels that comprise much of the conservation area. The easement is officially recorded in the land records as the Chaplin B. Barnes Napatree Point Conservation Easement.<\/p>\n


\nBarnes also founded the innovative Napatree Investigators youth education program that takes place every summer. Hundreds of children have spent their summers learning about the ecology of the Napatree ecosystem. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cChap knows that the best long\u2010term insurance to protect the natural resources of the area is to educate the youngsters \u2212 tomorrow\u2019s citizens and leaders \u2212 to the beauty and wonder of the Napatree environment,\u201d said Swift.<\/p>\n


\nBarnes was also praised for his work as an environmental advocate and his skills as a negotiator in often contentious conservation issues. <\/p>\n


\nThe mission of the Coastal Institute is to advance knowledge and develop solutions to environmental problems in coastal ecosystems. The Institute takes a broad view of coastal systems and embraces the concept that people, culture, and society are an integral part of the landscape.<\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\nChaplin B. \u201cChap\u201d Barnes with his wife Barbara and daughter Sarah.\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chaplin Barnes has led protection and preservation efforts in Watch Hill KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 March 6, 2014 \u2013 Chaplin B. \u201cChap\u201d Barnes of Westerly has been given the first äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾ Coastal Institute Distinguished Senior Fellow award, its highest honor, at a reception this evening at the Ocean House in Watch Hill. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}