Environmental Law Institute Webinar: Managing Threats to America’s Beaches from Storms and Rising Seas

WhenJanuary 25, 2023 2:00 pm — 3:30 pm

Where
Webinar Only

RSVP

This event is free and open to the public but you must register. Note: there is no in-person availability for this event.

• Please REGISTER HERE by JANUARY 23.
• Webinar information will be emailed one business day prior to the event. If you are unsure if you can access the webinar via the Zoom platform, please check your system requirements. If you are unable to participate via the Zoom platform, you may join in listen-only mode using a telephone.
• All times noted are EASTERN Time. The webinar will begin at 2:00 PM Eastern, 1:00 PM Central, 12:00 Noon Mountain, and 11:00 AM Pacific.
• There is no CLE for this course.
• Questions? Contact events@eli.org.

An ELI Public Webinar

More severe storms and rising sea levels resulting from a changing climate pose a threat to ecosystems along the American coast, including beaches, dunes, wetlands, and marshes. These ecosystems provide significant environmental, recreation, and economic benefits. Practices to sustain these ecosystems are available but are not well understood, face legal and financial obstacles, and have not been widely implemented. ELI will host two webinars with the goal of building understanding of measures to improve and sustain coastal ecosystems and removing obstacles to the wider application of needed practices:

• Sustaining Coastal Wetlands in a Time of Severe Storms and Rising Seas; and
• Managing Threats to America’s Beaches from Storms and Rising Seas.

This webinar will focus on beaches and will provide the audience with information about risks posed to beaches by more severe storms and rising seas and examples of practices and measures being implemented to sustain beaches and dunes in the face of these threats. These practices include nature-based solutions, such as restoring native plants to dunes to improve resiliency, and protecting pathways for landward migration of beaches. Background information about the value of beach ecosystems in environmental, economic and recreational terms will be presented in read ahead material along with information about the protected impacts of more severe storms and rising sea on beaches and dunes.

Panelists:
Jeff Peterson, Visiting Scholar, Environmental Law Institute, and Co-facilitator, Coastal Flood Resilience Project, Moderator
Lauren Blickley, Hawaii Regional Manager, Surfrider Foundation
Travis Brandon, Associate Professor of Law, Belmont College of Law
Charles Lester, Director of the Ocean and Coastal Policy Center, Marine Science Institute at UC Santa Barbara
Sean Vitousek, Research Oceanographer, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, USGS

Materials:
Materials will be posted as they are received.
ELI members will have access to materials/a recording of this session (usually posted within 2 business days). If you are not an ELI member but would like to have access to archived sessions like this one, please see the many benefits of membership and how to join.