Brand Spanking New Surfrider Foundation Environmental Director, Zachary Plopper

February 13, 2022

Learn what Zach is focused on in his new Surfrider position!

On this episode, hosts Peter Ravella and Tyler Buckingham talk to Zach Plopper, new Surfrider Foundation Environmental Director. Zach joins the Surfrider Foundation with more than 13 years of experience in advocacy-driven coastal and marine conservation. Through his previous work at WILDCOAST, he led the creation of the largest private protectorate of coastline in northwest Mexico, helped California to significantly strengthen its network of marine protected areas and advanced blue carbon ecosystem conservation as a nature-based solution to climate change in California and Mexico. Before his career in conservation, Zach was also a sponsored surfer and competed at the professional ranks in the World Surf League’s world qualifying series throughout high school and college.

Show Transcription
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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.