Day Three

Day Three at the conference was actually a nice respite from all the technical sessions that I had attended, but certainly no less productive. The closing plenary featured several speakers that gave their valued opinions on "Leadership" . . . what it means, how to be one, and above all how today's coastal leaders must face a whole host of issues not just on the technical side, but (perhaps more importantly) in how they deal with a constituency and stakeholders that may be considerably different from their own backgrounds and values.

• Angela Park - from Diversity Matters had some really great points about what leadership means in light of an increasingly "diverse" public. What does that mean anyway, "diverse"? Well, Angela brought up some really interesting issues about how we perceive said diversity, what it means in terms of membership to different groups, and how best to foster it and by doing so make our organizations or agencies more effective & more resilient.
  
• Amber Mace - gave a great summation of her pretty impressive career, and the risks she took and methods she used to include herself in the world of coastal planning and management. Now the ED of the California Ocean Science Trust, Amber's diligence, hard work and determination obviously paid off. I managed to speak with her for quite some time during dinner one night and she recommended, both then and during her talk, the book What Color is Your Parachute. Though I haven't managed to work through all the exercises there are a lot of great ideas and principles presented behind not only finding employment, but finding a field, industry and ultimately calling, that will not only pay the bills, but also fulfill you in somewhat deeper ways.
• Meg Caldwell - had some great accounts about how being in the right place at the right time, being tenacious and sometimes not knowing enough to know better, get you where you need to be. Its clear from her experience that Meg is an amazing & accomplished woman, but what was just as impressive to me was the air of casualness, humility and honesty that she showed behind the podium.
• Michael Orbach - This man, if you are familiar w/ the world of coastal & ocean issues/planning/management etc. needs no introduction. Dr. Orbach told us about some of the experiences that led him to various corners of the world, and to multiple offices, assignments and appointments during his impressive career. The thing I think I like the most about Orbach is his ability to approach this field from the perspective of the stake-holder, of always remembering that locals are experts too (sometimes moreso) and that each and every environment comes with its own unique set of circumstances and opportunities. He's an anthropologist so this isn't too surprising, and for that I'll forgive him for using South Padre Island as his slide in asking "Is coastal management working?".

The only other session I went to on Day Three was perhaps, for personal reasons, one of the most enjoyable. It had to deal almost exclusively with surfing in the context of resource users and as a means to engage communities in the coastal planning/management dialogue.

• Chad Nelsen from the Surfrider Foundation discussed his work on the economics of surfing particularly in one of California's (and the world) classic surf spots, Trestles. There has been a huge campaign to save the watershed that feeds the banks that create this wave and Chad's research at least proved that surfer's were capable of arguing for their resources on term$ better understood by developers and policy makers.
• Melissa Murphy from Oregon State University & Save the Waves Coalition took a similar approach to the wave in Mundaka, Spain which hosts hosted one of the stops on the Billabong Pro tour. Her work really illustrated how little many local communities understand what an incredible resource a world class wave is. Though the wave at Mundaka seems to be affected by a number of factors, there are definitely anthropomorphic reasons for its (now) fickle nature.
  
• Last but certainly not least was work presented by Paola Pijoan with Surfrider Ensenada. As a mexican, a surfer, a Surfrider member and someone that realizes what a tricky issue wave resources, development and tourism in Mexico can be, I was immediately interested in the work that she is doing and her approach to trying to develop a means by which wave resources can be developed and shared equitably and sustainably. Hopefully I'll be able to visit Ensenada sometime soon and see the "issues" first hand.

That was pretty much all for the conference. I know that it's taken me forever to finish writing about it but I'm glad that I finally have. Hope someone someday finds it useful.

Day Two

Climate Change Session:

• Tim Doherty from the San Francisco Bay Conservation & Development Commission, presented on what climate change means for the Bay Area.

• Dolan Eversole, from the University of HI discussed what sort of planning & policy initiatives are taking place in Hawai'i given the implications of sea level rise (powerpoint) (not good, the implications not the initiatives).

• the next presentation was interesting, in that it came from the tourism sector. David Edgell & Carolyn McCormick described what that sector's take on the climate change issue is. Given that a) it is such a large sector & b) so much of it takes place in areas that are susceptible to climate change, it was an interesting voice adding some diversity to the discussion.

• Meghan Higgins (big ups) had some very interesting points on what sea level rise means when it comes to the legal aspects of how we define the coast, ownership issues, etc. etc.
  

Land & Watershed session:

• I didn't stay long for this one because it was largely a lot of geology, some of which went clear over my head. However, the session was titled Starving the Pacific Coast Beaches of California, Oregon, and Washington, and there were (to me anyway) a couple of shockers provided by Orville Magoon & Co., namely that sand & gravel mining contribute to over half of the sediment loss on our western coastlines.
  

I then ran to the Effective Intergration* session:

• Danielle Bamford had a presentation on the use of Participatory GIS. The NOAA CSC Habitat Priority Mapper seems like a great tool and I'd be neat to see how it is used by future projects.
  
• Mara Dias (mp3 interview) shared the efforts of the Surfrider Foundation's Blue Water Task Force.
  

• Susan Lovelace discussed the differences in attitudes and knowledge between decision makers and stakeholders along coastal communities, and how this disconnect is making our jobs as coastal planners & managers that much more difficult.

Land & Watershed session (pt.2)

• Began with some interesting conclusions drawn by the research of Jeffrey Onsted on the effectiveness of the California Coastal Act.
  
• Wes Shaw gave a great presentation on his work within the Massachusetts "StormSmart Coasts" Program. I, unfortunately didn't manage to catch up with Wes during the conference but think everybody should take note of his presentation particularly his points about making material and resources interesting, useful and pertinent to stakeholders.

Conference (cont'd)

Day One (finally)-

International perspectives session:

• Midori Kawabe discussed the interesting situation of a coast in Japan, and what locals do in light of no centralized ICZM system.
• Arwen Edsall, over at NOAA's International Program Office gave a really interesting presentation on her work in Guyana.
• Roche Mahon spoke about the Grande Anse Bay, Grenada experience during Hurricane Ivan and the Carribean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) work there after the event.
• AND Mark Rauscher did a fellow Surfrider Foundation member a real solid by presenting some of their work on erosion of beaches in New South Wales

Social Equity Session (to be honest, I didn't catch this in its entirety, but what I did see was really good):

• Robert Atanasio covered some of the work that he did in Bocas Del Toro, Panama concerning fishing communities & resource use.

• Kristina Peterson & Rosina Phillipe also gave a great presentation on how a community in the Louisiana Bayou, came together after the Katrina disaster to rebuild their economy & community into something stronger and more resilient than what was there before.

. . . brief aside

I'm still working on the recap of the conferece, as much for my sake as anything . . . but before I continued I felt like posting a little interjection about Coastopolis. I've been communicating with various folks about the site and in one of the most recent correspondences a little description of the site turned out sounding quite nice. I'm posting what I wrote here, I hope Linwood Pendelton over at Ocean Values doesn't mind that I'm recycling things that I've sent him (a plug should be fair trade right? click on his picture for a good "interview" w/ him)

I think the main difference that I envision for Coastopolis is that, as opposed to some websites that I've seen out there, I hope the site becomes kind of an "enabling experience" as opposed to a simple blog, forum or bulletin board. I feel that with certain "web 2.0" features its easier and easier for people to access, relay and use information across a spectrum of fields and (hopefully) it can be done in an attractive manner. My goal is for the site to have a fairly broad audience, because that's the whole point - for coastal stakeholders of diverse backgrounds to see what the other is seeing, and maybe even see the way that the other is seeing certain coastal issues.

. . . the tag line for the Coastal Living magazine is "for people who love the coast", but just take a quick look at the headlines & articles on the website . . . I think we would all agree that there's a lot more to "loving the coast" than a Shrimp, Tomato & Watermelon Salad, not that it doesn't sound delicious . . . Loving the coast, for me, means trying to understand the coast, and living on it, or visiting it responsibly. Loving the coast means engaging with that environment in a way that makes your presence a sustainable one. It's high time that we really start loving the coast, and not just the idea of it.


. . . so there's my little aside. Thanks LP.

Rest of the Conference . . .

. . . What a week.

it's difficult to know where to start, or how to organize the following post given the mass amount of great sessions, people, ideas and conversations that I encountered in Redondo Beach. But I'll just start with things chronologically and see if that works . . . one of the great things about blogging is the ability jot it down when it happens (or soon thereafter) and have the links and info for later. One of the lousy things is that you wait a bit too long and you lose some of the timeliness of your impressions or ideas . . .
. . . and to be certain, there were a whole host of great sessions that I didn't manage to attend. What I would like to do, somewhere w/in the blog or on the site is link to the TCS page with the schedule and maybe add some hyperlinks to some of my favored people, organizations and agencies.

Day One
. . . the opening plenary featured not only Dr. Geraldine Katz. There were several other great speakers each describing projects in their respective areas, and what they were trying to do to realize the idea of "green ports". I am no expert in port planning, development or management. But I do realize that these areas have a profound influence on the conditions of our coasts, and due to the economic force within them, have a tremendous opportunity to influence coastal sustainability.

• Steven Goldbeck from the (take a deep breath) San Francisco Bay Conservation & Development Commission (BCDC) talked about the use of dredge spoils for somewhat more progressive or productive ends.
• Vivien Li of the Boston Harbor Association described the many initiatives in Boston.

• Heather Hartz, director of Environmental Affairs at the Virginia Port Authority followed . . . for my taste their website doesn't do their environmental efforts justice. ISO 14001,ULSD, as well as a host of other programs are definitely raising the bar and making that complex a greener part of the Virginia coast. By contrast, they have a great camera page . . . which begs the question, what other ways could institutions like VPA use the web to convey important environmental information.
  
• and last but certainly not least (quite the contrary) was Patricia Castellano, highlighting the work of the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports, a piece in the larger puzzle that is the LA Alliance for New Economy. I think it's sometimes too easy to forget that beyond the very real ecological and economic problems faced on our coastlines, there is a very troubling human dimension to our coasts' mismanagement or poor planning. Patricia did a great job in reminding us that true sustainability includes not only the conservation of habitat or species, of economic vitality, but of lives and livelihoods as well.

. . . then we had lunch.