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CTP Coordinator
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What is the CTP? Background and Mission The Coastal Training Program (CTP) is a national initiative by the National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) system to provide science-based information, tools, and training to coastal decision makers in order to foster stewardship of coastal resources. A coastal decision maker is anyone whose professional choices impact the health of coastal resources or habitats. Local planners, county council members, commercial and recreational fishermen, engineers and developers are just a few examples.
Each of the 27 National Estuarine Research Reserves on US coasts has the opportunity to establish its own Coastal Training Program. Each CTP is required to follow a series of steps of program development, including implementation of a market analysis of other area training providers and a needs assessment of the target audience, as well as the creation of a CTP program strategy and a CTP marketing plan. The North Inlet-Winyah Bay (NI-WB) National Estuarine Research Reserve began to implement its CTP in 2003, building upon six years of training experience in the form of Coastal Issues Workshops.
The Coastal Training Program has retained many of the best aspects of the Coastal Issues Workshops conducted at the reserve -- such as an emphasis on hands-on field training and participatory learning -- but the inception of the CTP also marked a transition toward a much more comprehensive approach to local coastal issues.
Focus of the NI-WB CTP Based on a Market Analysis of Coastal Training Providers in South Carolina, the North Inlet-Winyah Bay CTP staff determined that the training needs of municipal and county officials in the two counties closest to the NI-WB NERR (Georgetown and Horry counties) were underserved. Thus, local leaders—elected, employed, and volunteer—who make decisions that affect the coastal environment are the primary target audience for the NI-WB CTP. Because the North Inlet-Winyah Bay CTP emphasizes that functional ecological units—complete watersheds—are the appropriate scale over which to assess resource and land use decisions, officials in the counties to the west of the NERR (Marion, Florence, and Williamsburg Counties) may eventually prove to be priority audiences for the CTP.
Feedback collected through our Training Needs Assessment of Municipal and County Officials in Charleston, Georgetown, and Horry counties helped us to narrow the program's priority training topics to three aspects of Land Use Planning:
What does the CTP offer? The North Inlet-Winyah Bay CTP offers accessible, science-based information and technical training about timely coastal issues. CTP training can be conducted in a variety of settings and in a variety of formats, and training is always tailored to the specific needs of the audience. All training sessions include take-home reference materials and digital access (see Training Events section) to training presentations. CTP training events typically involve a variety of instructors, such as university professors, industry practitioners, and technical experts. Training is designed to be practical and is based on local case examples are incorporated whenever possible. Technological exhibitions, participatory field activities, and panel or round table discussions are included when appropriate to create an open, cooperative learning environment. Because CTP training events appeal to a diversity of interests, they afford participants an opportunity to build collaboration with stakeholders from different backgrounds and professional sectors.
View a printer-friendly form of the CTP tri-fold brochure
For more information about the North Inlet-Winyah Bay CTP,
Email:
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North Inlet-Winyah Bay NERR Mail: PO Box 1630, Georgetown, SC 29442 Ship: Hobcaw Barony, Hwy 17N, Georgetown, SC 29440 T: 843.546.6219 F: 843.546.1632 |
