A hurricane or other natural disaster can cause large and multiple changes to parks and natural areas. After Hurricane Harvey ripped through the Coastal Bend, it provided a unique opportunity for community planners take a step back and implement strategies to reduce future risk to degradation of those places that communities love.
Last week, researchers from the Mission-Aransas Reserve hosted a workshop with local communities to provide them tools to consider changes in climate when planning for future conservation of Coastal Bend in both land and in the water. The goals of the workshop were to share lessons learned and enable local communities to implement strategies that ensure that the parks and natural areas they are charged with providing to the public are there in the future. Participants included researchers, resource managers, local city and county planners, and parks personnel.
Planners from Baffin Bay to North Beach, discussed how to continue to conserve beloved beaches and natural habitats in a sustainable manner that meets the needs and uses of the public. This training is the first of three in a series of workshops that takes participants from start to finish to learn the steps of developing an in-depth and effective conservation plan.
