SCCF coastal resilience manager shares perspective of role
In a two-year grant agreement with the Captiva Erosion Prevention District, the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation recently hired Carrie Schuman as a coastal resilience manager, a new position that will look at sea level research.
CEPD Chairman Rene Miville said several months ago, SCCF Chief Executive Officer Ryan Orgera suggested to them that they want to hire a full-time person to deal with coastal resiliency.
“I convinced the board we needed to do this. We are very excited about this,” Miville said. “We don’t want to be in a bureaucratic process of studies and interactions. We want to build something.”
Orgera thanked the CEPD at its Sept. 13 meeting for its partnership in funding the position.
“It’s really important that we have someone that can be a leader and bring people together on our islands to get us to a point of long-term resiliency. She has only been here a few weeks and already has hit the ground running,” he said. “Part of the need of this position (are there are) so many efforts going on and the need (to have) someone to be a central voice and driving force in this project.”
Schuman told the CEPD commissioners that her background includes interdisciplinary science training with a strong research background in natural science, social science, education and training in policy and environmental economics.
“I have a comprehensive lens looking into things,” she said, adding that it includes a solid network of folks and experts. “Some are in other parts of Florida, but I think they will be helpful in trying to navigate what Captiva needs.”
In addition, Schuman hopes she will be a thread to really pull together people and help facilitate good conversation by helping access science expertise of what Captiva might need. She said she wants to have solution-driven ways to help the island achieve coastal resiliency as quickly as possible.
Schuman shared a plethora of ideas, which included connectivity between Captiva and Sanibel and how they might influence each other; both county and regional scale resiliency impacts; tradeoffs between different resiliency options and working with SCCF’s policy team on different kinds of legislation. In addition, she said she will be a source of connection to keep everyone abreast and up to speed with planning around coastal resiliency.
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY / news@breezenewspapers.com, please email