Women Leading
Environmental sustainability for a Greater New Orleans Kimberly Davis Reyher
Executive Director of Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL), Board Member for Amis du Lycée Foundation How did you get to where you are today? What decisions, obstacles or milestones have defined your success? My family encouraged me to pursue what fascinated me. So I studied ecology and natural resource economics, and followed my love of nature and our oceans to the World Wildlife Fund and then, after moving to New Orleans, to the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. At CRCL, I’ve had the opportunity to work with partners to drive action to protect and restore our coast. Much of our success has been based on tailoring our outreach to match the interests of specific audiences. We’ve convened thought leaders, scientists and industries through our biennial State of the Coast conference. We’ve engaged those seeking elected offices to share their views and priorities through our Coastal Issues Forum series. We’ve engaged thousands of volunteers in boots-in-the-mud restoration projects across the coast, and we’ve built Photo provided by Kimberly Davis Reyher reefs from 10 million pounds of oyster shells recycled from New Orleans restaurants. I’m very proud of all that we’ve accomplished. But there is so much more to do. As a state, we’re well-positioned with more restoration projects underway than ever before and have the momentum to build two large-scale ecological restoration projects to divert water and sediment to feed our starving wetlands. Even as we cope with the pandemic and hurricanes coming our way one after another, we need to ensure these projects go forward, and we need to ask ourselves at every turn how we can do this bigger, better and faster. We need to engage a much more diverse set of interests to be more reflective of those being directly affected by coastal land loss. How do you champion environmental sustainability in your daily life—personally and/or professionally? Why are these important values for our community? New Orleans is a coastal city. The coastal wetlands between New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico provide spectacular wildlife habitats and an amazing bounty of seafood — and they protect us from storm surge. But we’re losing those wetlands as they sink and the sea level rises. This coastal land loss is a threat to all who live in and love Louisiana. In this time of drawing lines between parties and people, this issue brings people together. It isn’t political. It is existential. Very simply: Do you want to live here into the future? If so, you should be calling for action to protect and restore our coast. How has the League influenced you personally and/or professionally? I first joined the League in Washington DC and did my placement in a shelter for battered women. I was so inspired by the busy, capable women with diverse personal and professional backgrounds, all throwing themselves at problems and focusing on how we’re all the same rather than how we’re different. I’ve since been impressed again by the League chapters in Hampton Roads, VA and now in New Orleans.
"It isn't political. It is existential. Very simply: Do you want to live here into the future? If so, you should be calling for action to protect and restore our coast. "
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Lagniappe | Winter 2020
