The Central Gulf Coast Chapter of ASBPA received its official Charter on Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at the Coastal Summit in Washington, DC. Our regional chapter was well represented with 11 members present throughout the Summit. Our region also took home a lot of hardware! Between Congressman Garret Graves receiving the Friend of the Coast award, and Mayor Collier receiving one of the Best Restored Beaches awards for the Town of Dauphin Island, our region received some long overdue recognition for its hard work and dedication to coastal restoration. By the way, you should watch this YouTube video that describes Dauphin Island’s award winning East End Beach and Barrier Island Restoration project.
In spite of the many travel and meeting snafus associated with Winter Storm Toby, the Coastal Summit was a complete success. There were lots of required technological improvisations, with some giving presentations by web conference, cell phone, etc. Carrier pigeons were not used because of the obvious time delays, but just about every other form of communication was utilized to keep the Summit agenda moving along. The presentations and panel sessions were informative and the federal agency advocacy meetings were productive. The social events were also a hit. Tuesday night’s “chill out” event really lived up to its name as rain changed over to snow. The Wednesday evening Coastal Reception in the Hart Senate Office Building was excellent and very well attended.
Please consider joining the ASBPA.