On March 13, Dr. Lexia Weaver, federation coastal scientist and central region office manager, presented on the merits of using living shorelines as a sound nature based resiliency strategy to a group of over 800 remote participants at a national briefing organized by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Founded in 1984 by a bipartisan group of members of Congress to inform the debate and decision-making on energy and environmental policies, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable societies. Their primary goal is to accelerate the transition to a new, low-emissions economy based on energy efficiency and renewable energy.
During her presentation Lexia described the environmental and economic benefits of using living shorelines as an effective strategy for reducing soundside erosion and provided many examples of the federation’s work to increase the use of living shorelines along North Carolina’s estuarine shoreline. Lexia’s presentation sparked several inquiries about permitting, designing and constructing living shorelines.
“It was really interesting to hear feedback from other states regarding North Carolina’s simplified permitting process for living shorelines. It seems that other states have or are experiencing the same permit challenges that we were facing, and they wanted to learn how North Carolina was able to work together to remove this barrier to living shoreline implementation,” said Dr. Weaver.
