Jessica Else, Environmental Journalist, on Stream Restoration Hawaiian Style

October 4, 2020

Coastal and watershed management, Hawaiian style

On this show, we take a trip to the island of Kauai to talk with Jessica Else, the environmental reporter for The Garden Island Newspaper (established 1901), and learn about the trending news stories in paradise.  In particular, we discuss the Waipa Stream Restoration Project. This community project is restoring the Waipa Stream to a management condition similar to how ancient Hawaiians traditionally managed streams to provide sustainable drinking water, irrigation, and fishery habitat. We also talk about how the County of Kauai is preparing for sea level rise and "over-tourism".



Show Transcription
This transcription was generated by a computer. Please excuse any errors.
Peter Ravella & Tyler Buckingham

Peter and Tyler joined forces in 2015 and from the first meeting began discussing a project that would become Coastal News Today and the American Shoreline Podcast Network. At the time, Peter and Tyler were coastal consultants for Pete’s firm, PAR Consulting, LLC. In that role, they worked with coastal communities in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, engaged in grant writing, coastal project development, shoreline erosion and land use planning, permitting, and financial planning for communities undertaking big beach restoration projects. Between and among their consulting tasks, they kept talking and kept building the idea of CNT & ASPN. In almost every arena they worked, public engagement played a central role. They spent thousands of hours talking with coastal stakeholders, like business owners, hotel operators, condo managers, watermen, property owners, enviros, surfers, and fishermen. They dived deep into the value, meaning, and responsibility for the American shoreline, segment-by-segment. Common threads emerged, themes were revealed, differences uncovered. There was a big conversation going on along the American shoreline! But, no place to have it. That's where CNT and ASPN were born.