Meet Stephanie Westby, Chesapeake Bay Oyster Restoration Program Manager for the NOAA Restoration Center

Stephanie Westby works as the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Restoration Program Manager for the Office of Habitat Conservation 's Restoration Center. She is based out of the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office in Annapolis, Maryland, and has been with NOAA for 12 years.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up sailing on the Chesapeake. After I finished undergrad, I lived and worked on traditional sailing vessels for about 10 years. My love for all things water grew during that time, and when I finally moved ashore, I decided I wanted to improve the health of our coastal areas.

What is your educational background?

I attended the University of Maryland for undergrad and Johns Hopkins University for graduate school, where I earned a master's degree in environmental science and policy.

What habitat work has been especially successful or inspiring to you?

The large-scale oyster restoration work on the Chesapeake that NOAA and partners have been working on for the past decade has been inspiring to me. Oysters may not be the most charismatic species on their own, but the reef habitat they create is critical for so many other species of fish and crabs. As filter feeders, they also clean the water. So this work is about helping to reestablish a healthy Chesapeake ecosystem as a whole. We went from building reefs that were typically an acre or two in size, at best, to restoring more than 1,500 acres throughout the Chesapeake. The other inspirational element is the great partnerships with other state and federal agencies, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations. It takes all of us working together to restore habitat at this scale.