Greetings Sea Grant Scholar followers and contributors!

I am now officially in my last 6 months as a NOAA Coastal Management Fellow with the Washington Department of Ecology. Soon, the soft shoreline stabilization guidance document I have produced as a central part of my project will be published by the WA Dept of Ecology’s SEA program.  I will be sure to post a link once it is available to the public.

I now have the opportunity to plan for outreach and training on soft shoreline protection policies for local planners and will be presenting on this topic at the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference in May.

In a couple of weeks I will be attending the Social Coast Forum and the annual NOAA Coastal Fellows meeting in Charleston S.C. where I will be catching up with my colleagues and learning about social science in marine management.

I am looking forward to my last six months as a fellow with opportunities to get out and work with Puget Sound local governments to help them implement policies and regulations for healthier shorelines!

I also wanted to congratulate Jenny Thompson who recently completed her year as a Knauss Fellow in Washington D.C.! Great work and all the best to her and her future! :)

Cheers,

Kelsey

Greetings,

It has been too long since my last post! I have been very busy here at the WA State Dept of Ecology with my Fellow’s project. I have made great strides creating Soft Shoreline Stabilization guidance for local jurisdictions in Puget Sound. I spent a long spring and summer writing, and my guidance is now undergoing review from local jurisdiction staff. It is very important to me that my audience, local jurisdiction staff, have the opportunity to review and comment on my guidance.

Creating this guidance has been a great learning experience, and I have had wonderful experience talking with local jurisdictions, state employees, and other stakeholders in soft shorelines. I am looking forward to wrapping up the review process, incorporating comments, and completing my guidance by Spring 2014! I am planning to spend my last couple of months as a fellow participating in outreach and training related to my guidance.

In addition to writing, I’ve also been able to attend forums, conferences, and other meetings where I have been a part of the soft shoreline discussion. Last week, I presented at the National Coastal Conference held by the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association. I also lead a field trip as a part of a training for real estate professionals on soft shorelines put on by the Coastal Training Program and Washing State University Extension in early October.

On a separate note, I, along with some partners at Oregon Sea Grant, were awarded a grant from OSG to create a mobile website that will host the NOAA Trust Species and Aquatic Pesticides Toxicity Database I created while completing my M.S. at OSU. It has been a great experience so far, and I’m excited that my database will be publicly available in a user-friendly format!

That is all for now. Next week I am attending the Coastal and Estuarine  Research Federation’s annual conference in San Diego. Hoping to catch up with some current and past OSG’ers while I’m there!

Until next time,

Kelsey Gianou