WELLS, Maine, November 12, 2021 — Dr. Christine Baumann Feurt of Kennebunk, Coastal Training Program director at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, has received the Margaret A. Davidson Award for Stewardship from the Coastal & Estuarine Research Federation (CERF). The award recognizes Dr. Feurt’s achievements as “a visionary social scientist who has helped to integrate the human dimensions into coastal management.” She accepted her award at the national CERF meeting this month.

Dr. Feurt developed the Coastal Training Program at the Wells Reserve in 2002 and consistently demonstrates a commitment to bringing scientists, practitioners, and community members together to protect the coasts and estuaries they value. She has expertise in stakeholder engagement, training design, collaborative learning, and environmental communication, and is a national leader in the research reserve network.

Feurt developed both the Resilience Dialogues curriculum for stakeholder engagement in collaborative science and the Collaborative Learning Guide for Ecosystem Management, which focuses on engaging diverse audiences to address stewardship concerns. She facilitated formation of the Salmon Falls Watershed Collaborative, which received the US Water Prize in 2012, and has been a leader in the Saco Watershed Collaborative. Feurt has taught at the University of New England for more than 20 years.

The CERF stewardship award was established to honor Margaret A. Davidson’s distinguished career in coastal resource management and her support of the application of science to the wise stewardship of estuaries and coasts. The Davidson award recognizes an individual that demonstrates extraordinary leadership, service, innovation, and commitment to the management of estuarine and coastal systems.

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