Managing the Future California Coast with Dr. Charles Lester

This week, host Peter Ravella and Tyler Buckingham head out to the West Coast to look at coastal management in the Golden State. Joining the show is Dr. Charles Lester, the director of the Ocean and Coastal Policy Center in the Marine Science Institute at UC Santa Barbara. Dr. Lester previously worked for the State of California and the California Coastal Commission for twenty years, including serving as the agency’s fourth executive director from 2011 to 2016. Charles is an expert in integrated coastal management and California coastal law and policy. He has extensive experience in California, including managing or directing hundreds of coastal planning and regulatory projects for the Coastal Commission. In 2015, he led the agency's completion of California's first comprehensive land use guidance for addressing sea level rise and coastal protection on the outer coast (Sea Level Rise—Adopted Policy Guidance). Charles speaks regularly on coastal management, adaptation and resilience, including recently as part of a Congressional briefing on “west coast resilience” (Charles Lester at EESI).