CoastEd’s update CoastEd Stats

July 2013 Issue 14

NEW RELEASE: Our Coast videos

The beans have been counted and the results are in. Between the 2012/13 financial year CoastEd delivered 62 education sessions to a collective audience of approximately 3000 individuals. In addition, saw our community-based outreach increase and the overall program grow by 36%. For a well-established program now over a decade-young, it is positive to see CoastEd continue to grow and diversify engagement streams. The team is currently preparing for another exciting financial year!

Contact CoastEd: p: 07 555 288 23 m: 0414 762 374 e: n.edwards@griffith.edu.auf: facebook.com/beachcare.coasted w: griffith.edu.au/coastal-management

What’s on offer?Given the results since our restructure in 2012, we will be maintaining our investment in resource development and delivery. In light of this, only 50 CoastEd sessions will be offered to Gold Coast schools and community groups free of charge. Therefore, we strongly encourage you to get in early and book your free session! Once these sessions are booked, CoastEd will be made available for a small fee starting from $150 per session. Alternatively, schools/groups can opt to be put on a waiting-list in case of cancellation. For Brisbane and SEQ-regional schools, session fees will also start at $150 – though, we encourage you to contact us when preparing your semester calendar to work out an agreement to ensure we can maintain our many partnerships that extend a decade.

To ensure we continue to service schools, we will be facilitating two Train the Trainer workshops to help up-skill your knowledge about the coast, and provide you with the right resources and tips to be able to facilitate your own session. The first one will be conducted in November, with the second in early 2014. If you wish to attend, please contact the CoastEd Coordinator. By building your confidence through training, we will be able to increase coastal outreach and leverage your understanding about coastal management.

To Celebrate 50 Years of Coastal Management on the Gold Coast, a series of coastal management videos have recently been released. Developed in partnership with the City of Gold Coast, the short videos capture founding legacies to recent coastal management strategies. We must admit, they are very informative, interactive and add great value to our resource portal! The following list provides a brief overview, which can be seen on our You Tube channel.

1. Our Coast – overview video about coastal management2. The Last Line of Defence – information about seawalls3. Shaping Our Coast – coastal processes that shape the coast4. Narrowneck Reef – the construction of Narrowneck Reef5. Gold Coast Seaway - a pioneering strategy

To view/download them, please visit our website and follow the tab to You Tube: griffith.edu.au/coastal-management.

The resilience of Gold Coast’s beaches has certainly been tested this year. In response to ex TC Oswald and thereafter, large swells have eroded much of Gold Coast’s beaches. As a result, many beach access ways have been closed to the public and in some locations private and public property impacted. Although there has been a significant loss of sand along the much-loved sandy highway, the increase in community awareness about the dynamics of the coastal zone has sparked many discussions about the future - which is promising.

Given such, CoastEd has been extremely busy responding to schools and community organisations, as well as the wider community to enhance their knowledge about coastal issues and management practices. Interestingly, education sessions about sand movement have been extremely popular, which has provided a great opportunity to discuss where does our sand come from and where does it go?

In the coming financial year we will continue to build our education resource portal to help guide your awareness about the coast. In addition, support on-ground awareness through the delivery of CoastEd sessions to build knowledge in school and community spaces. Acknowledging the need for sustainable coastal management, especially considering the current state of the Gold Coast coastline, coastal education couldn’t be more in demand. In saying that, our available sessions are filling up fast. So, please see the EOI form on the back and email your request to the CoastEd Coordinator.

Whether you are on school holidays or catching up on CoastEd News, enjoy reading about our recent highlights and exciting new resource releases.

from the CoastEd team!

Bring back the dunes!One of our new resources couldn’t have come at a better time with the state of Gold Coast’s dunes being in a fragile state. To further the community’s understanding about the importance of dunes and sustainable management, our sister program BeachCare has recently released a how to guide for community-based dune management. Inspired by the many BeachCare volunteers who actively participate in caring for Gold Coast dunes, the booklet titled, Building Dunes for the Community and the Coast, aims to increase knowledge about the importance of Gold Coast’s dunes. To download a copy, please visit: issuu.com/beachcare.coasted.