CRCL introduces new coastal leadership program for Louisiana residents

Application period for CLI’s first cohort has opened; meetings will be held monthly

JULY 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana has introduced a coastal leadership and education program intended to empower residents to become more effective advocates for coastal restoration. The Coastal Leadership Institute was developed in response to demand from CRCL supporters who wanted to get more involved after taking part in volunteer events and other activities. The application period for the first cohort has opened, and the first class will be in September.   

CLI, which will feature monthly meetings held in locations across the state, will focus on subjects ranging from the ecology of our coast to the cultures and industries that are imperiled by land loss. Participants will also learn about the legislative process, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and the state’s Coastal Master Plan. More information about the program is available on the CRCL website.  

“Addressing Louisiana’s coastal crisis will take efforts from industry, communities, government and concerned residents from across the state,” said Ethan Melancon, advocacy director at the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. “That is why CRCL is excited to announce the launch of the Coastal Leadership Institute, a professional development program to equip Louisiana residents with the expertise and skills to advocate for and understand the coast’s ecological relationship with culture, the economy and our politics.”  

Since its founding in 1988, CRCL has been a prominent advocate for science-based policy to restore and protect the state’s coast, where about 2,000 square miles of wetlands have vanished in less than a century. Through its Oyster Shell Recycling Program, CRCL has recycled more than 14 million pounds of shell, keeping the resource out of landfills and using it instead to build reefs that create habitat for new oysters and that slow the rate of land loss; in September, the organization is building its sixth oyster reef, this one at Grand Bayou Indian Village in Plaquemines Parish.  

The organization has planted more than 1 million trees and plants across Louisiana’s coast through its Native Plants Program. CRCL also hosts the biennial State of the Coast conference, the premiere gathering on coastal restoration in the state, holds talks as part of its CRCLectures series and honors coastal leaders through its annual Coastal Stewardship Awards.   

To learn more about the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, visit the organization’s website.  

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The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to unite people in action to achieve a thriving, sustainable Louisiana coast for all.