Walter Clark, right, discusses beach policy with a workshop participant. Clark, North Carolina 

 Sea Grant coastal law and policy specialist, is current president of The Coastal Society. 



Clark explains that TCS has a reputation 

 for being proactive by bringing new informa- 

 tion to the table and providing a forum for 

 discussion and debate. One such forum is the 

 biennial TCS conference — designed as a 

 venue to exchange information, cross-pollinate 

 ideas and develop strategies. 



The information, ideas and strategies are 

 exponentially multiplied as members test them 

 in their real-world settings, Clark says. 



That momentum has kept TCS viable 

 through the years, he adds. It also supports a 

 premise espoused by Clark: "As long as there is 

 time and energy, we can influence results — 

 often for the common good." 



The North Carolina 

 Connection 



Clark shares the TCS leadership legacy 

 with other North Carolinians with Sea Grant 

 ties. The roster of TCS past presidents includes: 



♦ William A. Queen, director of the 

 Institute for Coastal and Marine Resources at 

 East Carolina University, TCS president 1988- 

 1989; 



♦ Lauriston R. King, director of the 

 doctoral program in coastal resource manage- 

 ment at East Carolina University, TCS president 

 1989-1990; and 



♦ Michael K. Orbach, director of the Duke 

 University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, TCS 

 president 1996-1997. 



Queen joined TCS during its start-up years. 

 He was impressed with the interdisciplinary 

 character of the fledgling organization. 



"Problems are best solved by people from 

 different disciplines learning to work together to 

 share information and reach conclusions," 

 Queen says. "Almost any topic, from offshore 

 drilling to estuarine water quality, must take a 

 diversity of interests into consideration — the 

 natural environment, coastal processes, socio- 

 economic and political dimensions." 



His own research bears an interdisciplinary 

 hallmark, including estuarine science/public 

 policy studies he conducted for various state 

 agencies. Since 1979, Queen has administered 

 an important segment of Sea Grant extension 

 activities here. 



King, who served as deputy director of 



Texas Sea Grant from 1978 to 1987, says TCS 

 was one of the first professional organizations 

 where that message was truly understood. 



"People became interested in TCS when 

 they recognized that you can't address an issue 

 unless you bring all areas to bear on the topic," 

 he adds. 



King recalls the late 1960s, when the U.S. 

 was in a science race against the Russians. 

 There was an attitude in many government 

 agencies that doing "hard" science was the end 

 all and be all. He waged an uphill battle 

 advocating the integration of social science. 



The strength of TCS rests with its 

 300-plus members — a diverse group 

 of professionals representing academia, 

 government, the nonprofit arena and 

 the private sector. In other words, 

 the dedicated women and men who 

 are "in the trenches" dealing with 

 coastal change on a daily basis. 



Orbach, too, remembers the TCS launch 

 as an extension of other events at the national 

 level. 



"In 1976 the National Oceanic and 

 Atmospheric Aa"ministration was charged with 

 implementing the National Marine Fisheries 

 Act. They recognized that a social scientist was 

 needed to help take the human element into 

 account," Orbach explains. He became first 

 social science advisor for both NOAA and the 

 National Sea Grant Program. 



He repeats King's views that the decision- 

 making process needs both science and social 

 science in the decision-making equation. Social 

 scientists study how people govern themselves, 

 he says. "You can't just study the fish in the 

 water, you have study the human in the 

 community," he asserts. 



Orbach says it boils down to this: "When 

 you make political decisions regarding natural 

 resources, you are not changing the behavior of 

 nature. You are attempting to change the 

 behavior of people. Decisions are based on 

 human values — how people want the 

 environment to be. So, necessarily, resource 

 management is people management" 



18 EARLY SUMMER 2002 



