Vice-Chairman
Terry Backer is the appointed Soundkeeper
and Executive Director of the Long Island
Soundkeeper Fund, Inc., whose mission it is to
protect and enhance the environmental integrity
of Long Island Sound. He oversees all projects
with approval from the Board of Directors. A
third generation fishermen long-active in his
family’s shellfishing business, Terry has
fished Long Island Sound for much of his
working life. He has also fished the Pacific
Northwest and Alaska for
salmon and is a United States Coast Guard
licensed master.
Terry built a reputation on the Sound by
monitoring and patrolling its waters and
watershed, tracking down polluters and making
them accountable for violations. Today he
monitors the regulatory processes for projects
that may jeopardize the biological integrity of
the Sound, and he develops programs that will
make a difference to its future.
Terry has been a State Representative from
Connecticut’s
121st District (Stratford)
since 1992 and serves as Vice Chair of the
Appropriations committee. Terry is also a
member of the Environment committee, Energy and
Technologies committee and Regulations Review
committee. His duties include overseeing
budgets for ten state agencies totaling over
three billion dollars annually. He was
appointed by Governor Weicker to serve on
Connecticut's
Council on Environmental Quality from 1990 to
1992, and he was appointed by Senate President
Pro Tempore to serve on the Long Island Sound
Advisory Council. Moreover, Terry is an advisor
to shellfishing and environmental organizations
concerned with water quality both in Long
Island Sound and in estuaries around the
nation, and he is a founding member of the Long
Island Sound Watershed Alliance. He has been a
member of the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation
Conference since 1988, and he is currently an
Executive Board Member.
Terry has been honored by the U.S. Committee
for the United Nations Environment Programme
for his contributions in protecting the Earth's
Environment. Additionally, under Terry's
leadership, Soundkeeper received an
Environmental Achievement Award from Renew
America,
a national environmental organization based in
Washington D.C. Soundkeeper was selected by
leaders of the nation's environmental community
for its success in protecting the environment,
while serving as a model for similar
organizations around the country.
Terry Backer lives in Stratford, Connecticut
and has two sons, Jacob and Luke.
