‘Beaches, Bays and Beyond’ focus of upcoming conference

The full range of coastal concerns will be up for discussion at the upcoming National Coastal Conference, with more than 180 speakers addressing an array of issues during the three-day event. The conference, presented by the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA), is titled “Beaches, Bays and Beyond” to reflect the breadth of issues to be highlighted during the event. It runs Oct. 25-27, 2017, at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The conference opens with a half-day plenary session on Wednesday, Oct. 25, which will include the following presentations:

• “Coastal Research and Science” by Jonathan Pennock, Director, National Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• “Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact” by Jennifer Jurado, Chief Climate Resilience Officer for Broward County, FL
• “Nuisance Flooding and How Often It Will Be Occurring” by David Kriebel, Professor of Ocean Engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy
• “The Visitor Perspective on Beach Management” by Stacy Ritter, president and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale (FL) Convention and Visitors Bureau
• A welcome reception and poster session with more than two dozen presenters

Thursday and Friday will feature six concurrent 20-minute sessions running all day Thursday and until noon on Friday. These will include dedicated sessions on:

• Letting Stakeholders In: The Case for Using Marine Spatial Plans to Improve Stakeholder Engagement in Decision Making
• Potential Flood Risk Management
• Sediment Tracers: A Diagnostic Tool to Inform Sediment Pathways in the Coastal Zone
• Dune Management Challenges on a Developed Coast
• Coastal Systems & Public Policy

Additional sessions will focus on:

• Beach Management, Planning, and Policy
• Wetland Restoration & Restoration Technique
• Modeling & Managing Risk
• Identifying Sand Sources & Shore Restoration
• Living Shoreline Projects
• Managing Beaches to Increase Resiliency
• Potential Sources of Coastal Funding & Communications
• The Role of Dunes in Increasing Coastal Resiliency
• Coastal Policies, Regulations, & Agency Interaction
• Regional Sediment Management
• Flooding Hazard Assessment & Mapping
• Preparing for Sea Level Rise
• Tidal Inlet Modeling & Management
• Remote Sensing & Data Collection
• Methods for Promoting & Evaluating Coastal Sustainability
• Beach Nourishment, Design, & Performance
• Regional Comprehensive Coastal Studies & Shared Challenges & Innovative Strategies
• Coastal Structures
• Beach Erosion, Morphodynamics, & Ecosystem Modeling
• Nearshore Process Collaborative Research
• Science & Safety of Rip Currents
• Northeast Florida Post-Mathew Impacts & Recovery
• Understanding and Assessing Storm Impacts
• Hurricane Mathew: A Forensic Study

The conference is open to all interested coastal advocates. Register and pay for the conference online at www.asbpa.org. Single-day registrations are available, and a complete conference program and list of sponsors is available at the ASBPA website.