I’m ecstatic to be part of the 2013-2015 class of NOAA
Coastal Management Fellows! I returned from the Matching Workshop a couple
weeks ago—an exhausting but equally rewarding 5-day event. The 11 fellowship
candidates spent the week in Charleston, SC getting to know each other, the
State representatives, and the NOAA staff that administer the program.
What an incredible bunch of individuals! Six state
coastal programs were seeking fellows to work on specific projects. Each State
representative described the project they were promoting, after which, the
fellow candidates gave personal presentations about their experiences. We spent
the next couple days interviewing with the states whose projects most interested
us. And finally came the matching process: six candidates were paired with the six
states. At first, I thought the whole process would be a bit like a reality TV
show, but the NOAA Coastal Services Center did a fantastic job making the week
enjoyable and valuable for everyone. We all made some great friends, and I learned a lot about the different coastal challenges facing different parts of the country. In addition to the
presenting and interviewing, we ate great food, hung out at the beach, and
explored the wonders of downtown Charleston. If you’re unfamiliar with the
origins of pineapple upside down cake, you can take a tour of the city to find
out!
I begin working with the New Hampshire Coastal Program in
Portsmouth, NH in August 2013, where I’ll help establish a GIS-based
decision-support framework to improve spatial planning for New Hampshire’s
estuaries and use the Natural
Capital Project’s InVEST models to inform priority restoration and
management issues in the Great Bay Estuary. I’m pretty excited.
But before I get started in NH, I have another adventure
ahead of me. Along with a fellow recent University of Michigan School of
Natural Resources and Environment alumna, Allie Goldstein, I am embarking on a
3-month road trip around the U.S. to find and share stories about small towns
and cities implementing technologies that help them adapt to the impacts of
climate change. It’s going to be a really incredible journey, and I hope that
you will follow along virtually! You can watch our
launch video and read our stories at www.adaptationstories.com. Be sure
to ‘follow the trip via email’ to learn about new stories. And follow us on
twitter @kirstenandallie.
Cheers,
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