We’ve likely all heard a story of stakeholders being against a project. These stories often get condensed down into quick explanations such as “They are NIMBY’s” (Not in My Backyard). These quick explanations often lack the contextual understanding of when and how these stakeholders were engaged in the process, and the quality of that engagement. How we communicate science and the methods we use to identify and engage stakeholders are often what most influences the results of the process, not the feelings or sentiment of each side. What is outreach? What is engagement? And why are they vital to the health of our oceans and coastal communities? These are just a few of the questions this presentation will go into.

Mr. Lesemann will give an overview of Columbia Power’s technology research & development effort and the variety of technical obstacles involved in the company’s effort to develop a commercial system.

Dr. Henkel will give a brief primer on the types of offshore renewable energy devices that are being considered for the US West Coast then discuss potential environmental effects and how researchers determine which are most applicable to certain habitats/locations. She will close with some examples of research OSU is conducting to address those potential environmental effects. Some important take-aways from the presentation will be how few actual deployments have taken place in the US (so most of the issues really are hypothetical at this stage) and the difference between effects, which are unavoidable as they are defined as “change”, and impacts, which have a component of scale.

Barrier island and estuarine shorelines are shaped by sea-level rise, storms, and human disturbances. Several geological studies will be presented that examine the implications of these changes for coastal management. Specifically, barrier island and saltmarsh erosion will be placed into context with the coastal carbon cycle and the coupled evolution of oyster reef and saltmarsh shorelines will be explored.

The term “Living Shorelines” represents a new approach to shoreline stabilization, which is of increasing concern to coastal communities. Traditional shoreline hardening approaches, including bulkheads, result in a loss of coastal habitats such as salt marshes, oyster reefs, or mangroves. However, these habitats have the ability to protect shorelines, and can be utilized to improve coastal resilience to storms and sea level rise. Recent research has demonstrated the effectiveness of Living Shorelines in many settings. Widespread implementation of this approach remains a challenge, due to regulatory, business and cultural hurdles.

Three case studies will be presented to consider if and how climate change, oil spills, and long term fishing pressure are changing the nature of fisheries species assemblages along historically productive coastal margins.