Assateague Voices

In this episode we meet Kevin Smith, Executive Director of the Maryland Coastal Bays Program. Kevin takes us through the history of the Assateague State Park shoreline resiliency and wetland enhancement project, the benefits of living shorelines over revetments, connecting upland and shoreline to create a living, thriving coastal habitat, and much more. Oh, and we take a left turn into a topic that I've been interested in for a while — the Ocean City Inlet.

This episode is part two of a three-part series on the shoreline resiliency project. Part 1, our "Episode 14: Dynamic Living Shorelines," features Chris Becraft of Underwood & Associates. Part 3, our upcoming "Episode 17: Meghan's Garden," will feature Meghan Rhode of Assateague State Park.

In this episode we meet Chris Becraft of Underwood & Associates. Chris designs and builds ecological restoration projects. Chris fills us in on his Assateague State Park Shoreline Resiliency and Wetland Enhancement Project, dynamic living shorelines, taking the hundred-year view on climate change when designing projects, and much more.

In this episode, I talk with Gretchen Knapp of the National Park Service. Gretchen runs the Visitors Center in Tom's Cove at the Virginia end. Gretchen and Assateague Island have been practically inseparable for most of her adult life. As we say in this episode, it's not so much that she claimed the island as the island claimed her. In her two and a half decades there, she's learned and taught what seems like everything there is to know about Assateague, from… well, too much to squeeze into this paragraph. You'll just have to listen to find out. Recorded May 2018 and produced January 2021.

In this episode, I talk with Kelly Taylor of the National Park Service. Kelly manages the Assateague Island National Seashore Visitors Center in Maryland, which sits at the foot of the Verrazano Bridge that takes visitors from the mainland to the national and state parks. It's got everything you need to learn about the island's inhabitants, from the fish in the bay to the birds on the beach, touch tanks, film, books, and much, much more. Recorded May 2018 and produced January 2021.

In this episode, we talk with Ashlie Kozlowski, Outreach Coordinator of the Assateague Island Alliance. AIA is the non-profit partner of Assateague Island National Seashore, and it contributes greatly to many of the park's important programs such as the Wild Horse Management Program. Plus, if you want to name a foal, adopt a horse, practice healing yoga on the beach or ID a horse on your phone, AIA has you covered. Recorded May 2018.

Conversation with Billy Weiland of Assateague Coastal Trust about ACT's #TrashFreeAssateague project, Hands Across the Sand, his blog The Marsh, and the most important lesson he's learned from nature (so far). Recorded at the Assateague Island Visitor Center and edited at the Assateague Island Surf Shop, home of the incomparable Sunset sandwich, great coffee, free wifi, and comfy seating. Come out this Saturday, May 19, for Hands Across the Sand/Assateague (Assateague State Park) at 11:30, and Trash Free Assateague on Saturday, June 2, at the national park from 9-1. #TrashFreeAssateague. Share it!

Assateague offers solitude and surf, but it also offers something else: community. Day use visitors, Eurovan travelers, Mother's Day celebrants, weddings, proposals, surfers and surf fishers, horse lovers, stargazers, and lots of families of all shapes and sizes: They create a vibrant community of voices that connects us to the island and to each other, and gives the island its unique character. So on this frigid New Year's Day, let's take a warm summer stroll and listen to beach voices. Let's go.

Billy Weiland is a son of Assateague. He grew up here, surfed here, and got his degree from Salisbury U. before leaving for grad school in North Carolina. He's back home with a newfound appreciation for the island and a passion for preserving and protecting it. Meet the newest staff member of the Assateague Coastal Trust.