A Check In with Rob Young, Director, Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines

November 1, 2020

The latest from Dr. Rob Young

On this week's episode, Peter Ravella and Tyler Buckingham are joined by Rob Young, Director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University, and one of our favorite and most thought-provoking guests.  When Rob was last on the pod, it was early March 2020, right before the COVID-19 shutdown took hold.  We catch up with Rob to talk about coastal development, federal shoreline policy, hurricanes, and to learn about what has been on his mind during this most unusual summer.   Always a treat to check in with one of the great coastal pros on the American Shoreline Podcast.  



Show Transcription
This transcription was generated by a computer. Please excuse any errors.
Peter Ravella & Tyler Buckingham

Peter and Tyler joined forces in 2015 and from the first meeting began discussing a project that would become Coastal News Today and the American Shoreline Podcast Network. At the time, Peter and Tyler were coastal consultants for Pete’s firm, PAR Consulting, LLC. In that role, they worked with coastal communities in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, engaged in grant writing, coastal project development, shoreline erosion and land use planning, permitting, and financial planning for communities undertaking big beach restoration projects. Between and among their consulting tasks, they kept talking and kept building the idea of CNT & ASPN. In almost every arena they worked, public engagement played a central role. They spent thousands of hours talking with coastal stakeholders, like business owners, hotel operators, condo managers, watermen, property owners, enviros, surfers, and fishermen. They dived deep into the value, meaning, and responsibility for the American shoreline, segment-by-segment. Common threads emerged, themes were revealed, differences uncovered. There was a big conversation going on along the American shoreline! But, no place to have it. That's where CNT and ASPN were born.