Shoreline experts to address NC’s coastal future

(Apr. 16, 2002)   —   A coastal resources expert will offer insights on how to apply lessons learned in managing the Pacific shoreline to the coastal regions of North Carolina in a presentation at East Carolina University on Monday, April 22.

Peter M. Douglas, the executive director of the California Coastal Commission, will give a public lecture entitled “Trouble on the Edge: Coastal Zone Management in the New Millennium” at 7 p.m. at the Willis Building (corner of Reade and First streets).

His remarks are part of ECU’s Executive-In-Residence program in Coastal Resources Management. The program provide students, faculty and members of the community an opportunity learn more about marine resource issues from senior executives in areas of politics, science and natural resources management. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a supporter of the program at ECU.

Dr. Lauriston King, director of ECU’s doctoral program in Coastal Resources Management, said that Douglas, an attorney, was one of the key leaders in the development of California’s pioneering coastal management legislation.

“He will focus on the ingredients of success and lessons learned from more than 30 years of experience at the frontiers of coastal conservation as they may relate to North Carolina’s coastal future,” King said.

Douglas joined the California Coastal Commission in 1977 and became director in 1985. He was the co-author of Proposition 20 (The California Coastal Zone Conservation Act of 1972) and the state’s 1976 Coastal Act.

In addition, he is a founding member of the Science Advisory Board for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He served on the President’s Panel on Ocean Exploration and wrote “Discovering Earth’s Final Frontier: A U.S. Strategy for Ocean Exploration,” published in 2000.