As a part of our partnership with NAEP, ACRA members are eligible to receive the member price for NAEP webinars. See below for information on an upcoming webinar on NEPA regulations, and access the discount code here.

The National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP) has multiple upcoming webinar opportunities open to ACRA members, including one this Thursday, May 7. Read below to find out more and register.

Staying Connected During Crisis: Public, Employees, and Customers
Presented by Theresa McClure & Laura Thorne
May 7, 2020 | 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM PT

Law, regulation, and agency guidance on environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) require public participation, as do many related environmental regulations. We also accept public engagement in general as a matter of good governance so as to include our citizenry in decisions affecting their lives and communities. At its core, public engagement in environmental reviews rests on some of our country’s most deeply held values of free speech and liberty.

Today environmental professionals find themselves grappling with how to comply with the conflict between requirements for public meetings and health-related orders barring assembly. Arrangements for community gatherings made only a few months ago have been postponed or canceled. Planning for future outreach is uncertain. Further, while there has been a huge shift to online meetings, a continuing “digital divide” leaves many people unable to join electronic forums.

While staying engaged with the public is important during this time, agencies and companies must also make an equal effort to stay connected with their customers and employees. Social media aside, how do you not only shift the delivery of services where needed but also ensure that the efforts are meaningful and meet the changing needs of the customer?

Questions addressed during the webinar:

Coastal Restoration and Resilience
Presented by Bridget Callahan Lussier, Niek Veraart, & Amanda Bassow
May 28, 2020 | 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM PT

The webinar will provide insight into coastal restoration and resiliency planning, ecological and socioeconomic considerations, and effective monitoring to measure success. Case studies will be described to illustrate approaches, challenges, and successes.

Ms. Lussier’s will provide an overview of approaches to strengthen coastal resilience using natural infrastructure, with an emphasis on techniques appropriate for the Southeastern U.S. and Caribbean. The nature-based approaches absorb shock from climate and weather threats while providing benefits for fish and wildlife. Examples will include living shorelines, mangrove, coral reef, salt marsh, oyster reef, dune, and other coastal habitat restoration projects that increase coastal resilience.

Mr. Veraart’s presentation will focus on coastal resiliency planning and the socioeconomic considerations necessary for sustainable decision-making.

Ms. Bassow will discuss how the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is applying lessons learned from the Sandy program to its resilience grantmaking nation-wide. She will focus on the recommendations coming out of an initial evaluation of the Sandy program, as well as the status of on-going monitoring to track a core set of ecological and socio-economic metrics.