On November 16th and 17th, the Center for Watershed Protection hosted its very first Specialty Conference—an event with technical content, industry sponsors, and themed activities that were specifically designed around a focus area under the watershed and stormwater umbrella. We intend to hold an annual Specialty Conference each Fall to complement the National Watershed & Stormwater Conference we offer each Spring, which provides a forum for sharing all kinds of fresh ideas on watershed and stormwater management principles and practices.

The 2020 Coastal & Island Specialty Conference was held virtually to keep our attendees, presenters, sponsors, and staff safe in the current climate. Despite the virtual format, the conference was interactive and informative. We would like to thank everyone who made this first-of-its-kind event such a success, including:

  • the members of our Technical Planning Committee, for volunteering their expertise and guiding the development of the conference’s technical content from beginning to end, for helping to raise awareness for the event, and for participating in the event as session moderators;
  • all 63 of the speakers who presented their innovative and topical findings on their work across industries and fields;
  • the more than 100 people who attended the virtual event;
  • the 11 organizations who sponsored the event; and
  • the entire group of Center for Watershed Protection staff who designed and facilitated the event.

Here are some highlights of the 2020 Coastal & Island Specialty Conference!

Who was there?

Over 100 attendees from throughout the United States (including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands!) joined us virtually for the 2020 Coastal & Island Specialty Conference. Attendees were affiliated with a variety of organizations: federal, state, and local government agencies, consulting firms, universities, and non-profits—just to name a few.

What did we learn?

The 2020 Coastal & Island Specialty Conference consisted of presentations and workshop sessions on various topics pertinent to coastal regions. The conference also included supplemental activities like an island-themed virtual Happy Hour for networking and two trivia sessions.

The presentations and workshops at the conference were organized into the following topic areas:

    • Mitigating Pollution at the Land-Sea Interface
      • Shoreline protection and restoration (living shorelines)
      • Green infrastructure for the shoreline
      • Tie between traditional watershed work and coastal restoration/resilience work
      • Erosion protection
      • Unpaved roads and road construction
      • Recovery from natural disasters
    • Hydrology & Stormwater Management
      • Responding to natural disasters
      • Connecting land-based watershed management and coastal resilience
      • Green infrastructure and stormwater management
    • Watershed Planning and Management
      • Connecting watershed management and economically important industries (such as tourism, eco-tourism, agriculture)
      • Watershed management in the context of COVID-19 recovery
      • Watershed management for community resiliency
      • Funding sources for work in low population density islands and isolated coastal areas
      • Indigenous wisdom—talking “community to community” to address watershed issues (e.g., preservation, mitigation or enhancement, etc.)
      • Watershed environments and “street art” – “spreading the word”
      • Uncertainty and non-stationarity in projecting the future—planning and design with resilience and sustainability in mind
      • Intersections between placemaking, parks and watershed management
    • Biological Integrity and Habitat Protection
      • Land-based impacts on biological integrity and habitat (coral reefs, acidification, toxins, etc.)
      • Special habitat preservation
      • Sargassum (regionally focused: Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic-wide)
      • Biological Condition Gradient Model derivation, implementation and applications

If you’re interested in obtaining recordings of any of the technical content that was offered at the 2020 Coastal & Island Specialty Conference, they are available for purchase by contacting Karen Titus at kmt@cwp.org.

In addition to the over nearly 50 presentations and workshops, the 2020 Coastal & Island Specialty Conference also featured the following extras:

  • Opening Remarks from the Center for Watershed Protection’s Executive Director, Hye Yeong Kwon
  • Special Plenary session from Mac Stone (Conservation Photographer, Mac Stone Photography)
  • Lunchtime Trivia Contest, with mostly pop-culture questions with a few CWP questions thrown in!
  • Lunchtime Name-that-Tune Contest, where attendees had to be the first to guess the name of a song based on a short clip
  • Island-themed Happy Hour Discussion, where attendees and CWP staff networked with island-themed cocktails and virtual backgrounds

What our attendees had to say

The 2020 Coastal & Island Specialty Conference received glowing reviews in the feedback from our attendees, presenters, and sponsors. We’re very proud to put on these events and provide a venue for interactive learning and professional growth, and we’re lucky to have met so many wonderful people in the watershed and stormwater industry in the process! Here are some feedback highlights:

  • “Well-organized, interesting and informative presentations, engaging staff members!” – sponsor, presenter, and attendee
  • “CWP staff is fun, knowledgeable, and professional. This is my second CWP conference and both left me feeling very motivated and with new ideas to keep moving our watershed work forward. I look forward to attending more CWP conferences in the future, especially on coastal and island issues. Thank you.” – presenter and attendee
  • “Your team provided excellent planning and support as well as engaging in a welcoming way via a challenging virtual event.” – presenter
  • “Break activities were well planned and executed.” – attendee
  • “Very well-run compared to other virtual conferences.” – sponsor and attendee
  • Blog post by a member of our Technical Planning Committee, a session moderator, and an attendee, Kellyn Campbell (Campbell Environmental Supply and Consulting): http://campbellesc.com/awomanwhoplaysintherain/2020/11/24/cwp-coastal-and-island-conference-2020

What’s planned for 2021?

The 2021 National Watershed & Stormwater Conference will be held virtually from April 13th – 16th, 2021—so save the date now!

We’re already accepting abstracts for the 2021 Conference, so submit yours before the submission deadline on Wednesday, December 30th, 2020 using the guidelines on our website: https://www.cwp.org/2021-conference-abstracts/

We’ll also be hosting a 2021 Specialty Conference in the Fall of 2021! Stay tuned for more details on the event date and specialty focus area.

We’re looking forward to continuing to provide an event that gives our colleagues a venue for networking, sharing our experiences, and learning from one another in an educational, engaging, and enjoyable way.