Live from AIWA: The Recreational Waterway

October 4, 2020

Continued coverage of the AIWA Annual Meeting!

Peter is joined by Melissa Danko (Executive Director of the Marine Trades Association of New Jersey), David Dickerson (Vice President and State Government Relations Director at the National Marine Manufactures Association), and David Kennedy (Director of Government Affairs for the Boat Owners Association of the United States). They discuss the importance of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway for recreational boaters and the value that recreational users bring to the broader economy of the Nation. Hint, its not a small contribution! And, they talk about the wonderful access to nature afforded when traveling the AIWW.

Show Transcription
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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.