Chuck Schonder: An ocean guy in love with the Inland Bays

Just about the time when the last school bell would be ringing, retired teacher Chuck Schonder makes his way to Delaware Seashore State Park.

The crowds are thinning, and there's something special about the late afternoon sun that brings the 73-year-old Ocean View resident to the shoreline.

“It's therapeutic,” he said. “I've always been an ocean guy.”

As a child growing up outside of Philadelphia, he would travel with his family to Long Beach Island in New Jersey, where he would be the last one out of the water. Not much has changed decades later, Schonder said.

When he retired from 26 years of teaching middle school math in northern Virginia, it was a natural move for Schonder to settle down with his significant other, Frances Hart, in southern Delaware. His light, beachy tan, contrasting against his wise-looking hair, shows that he's making the most of his new home.

Schonder doesn't have to be dragged out of the water by his parents anymore, but because of his newfound commitments, he makes a concerted effort to get his ocean therapy at least a couple times a week – always right around 4 p.m.

As a little boy, his first interaction with the outdoors was the beach. His father was captain of the Long Beach Island lifeguards, where Schonder got to know the comforting, grainy feel of sand between his toes and taste of saltwater on his face.

“It just feels like I'm in my element when I'm in the ocean,” he said.

After retiring to Delaware in 2004, Schonder found another piece of nature to fall in love with: The Inland Bays.

For a time, he volunteered with the local chapter of the Sierra Club, but he wanted to be more involved in advocacy to raise awareness and funds for the new Delaware places he was discovering after his math books had been put away.

In his last years as a teacher, he said, he would wander into the faculty lounge where the No. 1 topic among his colleagues was retirement: Did you save enough? Would you get another job? What would you do so you don't get bored?

None of those questions ever worried Schonder, he said very calmly. He is not a man who struggles to find a cause.

The teacher-turned-volunteer eventually found the Inland Bays Foundation, an organization established in 2011 to advocate the restoration of the Inland Bays. Schonder said he loved the education and scientific side of environmental issues, which he found at the Sierra Club and Center for the Inland Bays, but he wanted to do more to implement change.

“The Inland Bays Foundation fit me perfectly because that's an advocacy group,” he said.

From there, Schonder met people who led him to an underused resource overlooking the Indian River Bay. He arrived at Holts Landing State Park to find it in a ramshackle state.

His cheery face turned slightly solemn as he recalled the loneliness of the state park on that first visit less than two years ago.

A sad boat ramp at the park – the only major boat access between Millsboro Dam and the Indian River Inlet – had been sorely damaged by Superstorm Sandy in 2012, and temporary repairs made Schonder realize he had only touched the edge of a much larger problem at the park.

Unlike the popular Delaware beaches, there was no rush of crowds at Holts Landing when Schonder visited. About a dozen trucks with trailers– more than the small parking lot can handle – were lined up to use the patchwork ramp. It was kind of a sad sight for a warm Sunday afternoon, he said, but “the bones of that place were perfect.”

Few people were using Holts Landing, and those who were visiting couldn't even find signs pointing to the boat ramp, the kayak access point, or any information about the then-overgrown trails and native species, he said – they were all rotted or completely gone.

“It had been basically ignored for about 10 to 12 years,” Schonder said. “It gave an aura of something that was forgotten, something that people didn't care about. It just screamed that to you.”

Holts Landing was stuck in a vicious cycle: There would be no funding for improvements until more visitors came in, and it would be hard to attract more visitors until some improvements were made.

“Sixty to 70 percent of the state park funding is driven through the revenue they take in at the toll booth for each park,” Schonder said. “The funding will increase once those turnstiles start spinning more rapidly.” That's when the ocean guy fell in love with an inland treasure. Schonder said he thinks of Holts Landing like his students back in Virginia – the park, just like the seemingly uninterested middle-schoolers he had worked with, just needed a little push and some extra support.

Working with Delaware Seashore State Parks staff and the Friends of Cape Henlopen State Park, Schonder and fellow Inland Bays Foundation member Bob Chin formed the Friends of Holts Landing State Park and hit those overgrown trails under the leadership of the group's trails events coordinator Laf Erickson.

Starting in the middle of winter and braving harsh January winds, the new group recruited volunteers and started clearing trails, relocating some to higher ground with the help of state officials, to make way for the influx of visitors they expected.

“Now all that trail work has been done,” Schonder said, beaming behind his white mustache while sharing a story about an Eagle Scout who helped install four benches at critical points along the 2.3 miles of trails. A tinge of excitement filled Schonder's soft, sturdy voice as he recalled working with the volunteers, state staffers and finally earning recognition for bringing life back to Holts Landing.

He's modest in admitting that his efforts have been recognized statewide: Schonder received one of 10 awards presented by the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control at this year's Delaware State Fair.

There's still a lot of work to be done, he said. The boat ramp still needs to be fixed, the Inland Bays still need to be cleaned up, and the Friends group can use all the help it can get with events, publicity and fundraising.

The same beauty he's found lapping in ocean waves over the decades, he now sees in the meadows and forests along the Inland Bays. They just need a little more love.

“It's not the ocean. It's an alternative to the ocean,” he said. “It has a wealth of features that are undeveloped. We want to protect them but enhance them.”

So if you can't find Schonder with his toes in the sand, just look a little farther inland. He's found more than one place for respite. For more information or to join the Friends of Holts Landing State Park, contact Schonder at cschonder3@gmail.com.