Will Collins, nominated by Georgia Sea Grant, is a Digital Coast Fellow who was matched with The Nature Conservancy’s Gulf Program to develop a project to protect and manage coastal wetlands, with a focus on facilitating inland marsh migration to enhance coastal resilience. Will holds a juris doctor from Georgia State University, a master of arts in teaching from Georgia College, and a bachelor of science in foreign service from Georgetown University.
Tell us about your project and what you’re hoping to accomplish.
Collins: I am developing a project within The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to protect and manage coastal wetlands for the purpose of facilitating inland marsh migration. My overlapping interests include utilizing the FEMA Community Rating System as an incentive for community buy-in and incorporating The Nature Conservancy’s priority estuary system projects.
How will the community benefit from your project?
Collins: Marsh migration facilitation allows for tidal marsh to migrate inland, preferably within a controlled manner, in order to allow communities to continue to coexist with sea level rise, avoid saltwater inundation in developed areas, and manage the protection of coastal freshwater and brackish wetlands. Marsh protection offers a variety of ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration and habitat protection, but also helps with coastal stormwater and flooding management.
Who, or what, has inspired you to pursue this journey and why?
Collins: My inspiration for pursuing this fellowship stems from a deep-seated appreciation for the resilience and beauty of coastal ecosystems. I previously taught high school students in Savannah, Georgia, where I saw a lot of inequality in the community, much of it stemming from the development of the city––its spatial organization. I think this led me to care more and more about the balance between economic development and protecting ecological space. Further, growing up near the coast, I spent a lot of time outside and near water, which created a base-level interest in working with and for natural systems. I’d say the urgency posed by environmental destruction and the visible impacts of climate change on coastal areas has also fueled my interest in pursuing marsh protection.
Describe a particularly challenging learning curve. How are you approaching it or solving it?
Collins: A challenging learning curve has been mastering the intricacies of project management in the context of conservation. As a recently barred attorney, I was more accustomed to navigating legal frameworks, advocacy, and deep research rather than juggling timelines, budgets, and stakeholder dynamics. To address this, I’ve sought out mentorship from colleagues with project management experience and I’ve completed The Nature Conservancy’s intensive project management program, Highly Effective Teams. I’ve also leaned on resources like project management software to fortify my project management capabilities.
What have your experiences taught you about your talents and where you’d like to take them in the future?
Collins: Through this fellowship, I’ve discovered that while I love the complex work of conservation, I think I would like to hone a future more focused on the content of the work (legal, etc.) than the project management side of the work. I think I have a knack for distilling complex environmental information into consumable chunks and conveying that information to specific stakeholders. This has reinforced my interest in pursuing a career where I can bridge technical expertise and policy implementation; though like I said, I would like to be on the ‘specialist’ side rather than on the side of a project coordinator/manager/etc. Looking forward, I aim to continue helping develop projects that protect critical habitats, from the side of a legal strategist, conservation easement developer, real estate acquisitions attorney, or something of that sort.
This feature was originally published in a quarterly newsletter from the NOAA Office of Coastal Management.