Rebecca Roth, Executive Director of NERRA, from Social Coast Forum 2020

October 4, 2020

Join us as we check in with the conference host.

Live from the Social Coast Forum 2020, Peter and Tyler sit down with Rebecca Roth, Executive Director of the National Estuarine Research Reserve Association (NERRA), a national nonprofit established in 1987 to advance the work of the Reserve System.  NERRA is the host organization for the Social Coast Forum, the most innovative coastal conference we've attended.  And, we take a look at the Research Reserves and the communities and organizations that support them.  "Coastal management is people management" and it can be a bit messy sometimes.  But, NERRA and its allies  work together to enhance our estuaries, strengthen the community networks that rely on estuarine health, and to address the myriad challenges to our estuaries, coasts, and communities.  Good work, good show.  Check it out.

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.