Unique Experiences

Item Description

Lunch or Dinner with Tim Dilingham, Executive Director of the American Littoral Society, in  Sandy Hook or Hopewell, New Jersey

The American Littoral Society, established in 1961, is a membership-based coastal conservation organization that. promotes the study and conservation of coastal habitats, living resources and environmental quality. They give people the knowledge and tools to do the same by bringing them into the dunes, salt marshes, mud flats and shore where they develop a passion to protect them too. Headquartered at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, ALS also maintains offices in New York, Oregon and  Florida.

Tim is a diver and has a BS in biology, and a graduate degree in coastal and marine resource management from the University of Rhode Island. He serves on the Boards of the Institute for Marine and Coastal Studies, Rutgers University, Restore America’s Estuaries (Chair), the NJ Climate Change Adaptation Alliance and the NJ League of Conservation Voters.

Long interested and involved in the management of estuaries, he started his career developing Special Area Management Plans in coastal Rhode Island, and served as a marine resources policy specialist for the state’s Coastal Resources Management Council. Currently, he serves on the Advisory and Science and Technical Committees of the Barnegat Bay Partnership, and has served as gubernatorial appointee to the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council, where he chaired the Council’s Natural Resources subcommittee during the development of the Regional Master Plan required under New Jersey’s Highlands Act. He has served on the Blue Ribbon Panel on Offshore Wind Turbines, and on task forces studying the role of tidal wetlands in sequestering carbon. Following on his work to conserve the ecological connections between horseshoe crabs and migratory shorebirds in Delaware Bay, he was appointed to the Shorebird Advisory Committee of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. He was also nominated by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine as a member of the New Jersey Coastal and Ocean Protection Council.

 His work at the American Littoral Society has led to expanded advocacy regarding the restoration of Barnegat Bay and other coastal areas, new partnerships to promote community based restoration projects, expansion of marine education programs in underserved communities throughout New Jersey, the launch of a “Spill Spotters” program to engage local communities in coastal stewardship and spill response,  protection of shark populations,  and renewed focus on the conservation and restoration of Jamaica Bay, NYC.

www.littoralsociety.org

Item Special Note

Being auctioned is dinner or lunch with one the world’s foremost shark experts or celebrities. It is a unique opportunity to “talk shark” face-to-face, one-on-one, with a real authority on sharks. 

How it works:

1. Bid on a celebrity, shark scientist or conservationist that lives or works in your area, unless you are willing to drive or fly to meet them in their area.

2. The winning bidder pays for the lunch or dinner and may bring as many guests as he or she wishes.

3. We will introduce the winning bidder to the celebrity, scientist or conservationist. The two of you then set a mutually agreeable  date, time and place to meet within one year of the close of the auction.

All winning bids are charitable contributions deductible from US Federal 2013 income taxes.  Funds raised by the auction will be used to support shark research and conservation programs.