Urban planning graduate to help manage Texas coastal growth

Heather Wade ‘11, Texas’ first coastal community development agent, is creating plans with leaders in Coastal Bend counties with the twin aims of retaining the area’s coastal charm while growing in environmentally responsible ways.

Wade, who holds a Master of Urban Planning degree from Texas A&M, will be working in Aransas, Refugio, Nueces, San Patricio and Calhoun counties that comprise the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Reserve.

“We talk about coastal community development allowing communities to keep a sense of place, and that means allowing these communities to have a stake in how they grow so they do not lose the look and feel of the area that attracted people to move there in the first place,” said Logan Respess, Texas Sea Grant College Program’s associate director and head of its extension program.

Wade, hired with a two-year grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through a partnership of the TSGCP, based at Texas A&M and the reserve, based at The University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, is expected to provide leadership, guidance and direction in the broad arena of sustainable development to small coastal communities whose planning resources can be limited.

“We’re very excited to have Heather aboard,” said Sally Morehead, reserve manager. “She brings with her a land use planning skill set that we can utilize with our existing projects. We have a good feel for the biological aspects of the reserve but Heather’s skills will help us to better understand the human component and allow us to carry out our ecosystem-based management plan.”