Circumstances May Separate Us But the Goal Remains the same

​The American Littoral Society is known for connecting people to the coast. For literally (littorally?) decades, much of our work has focused on wet feet and sandy hands.
 
We love nothing better than sharing our passion, knowledge and concern for marine and coastal wildlife and their habitats with others standing on the beach, in the marsh, on the boardwalk. Those connections have been central to our efforts and successes in protecting coastal wildlife, securing clean water, and shaping better approaches to living with the shore.
 
Like the rest of the country, we have been sheltering at home since March in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This presented a new challenge – how to carry forward our mission of coastal conservation while quarantined, separated and unable to get our feet wet. 

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We shifted to the virtual world to continue our efforts to educate, conserve, and advocate. Not surprisingly, given the creative, innovative bunch of scientists, educators and policy wonks who are the professional staff of the Littoral Society, we came up with some fun and effective programs, webinars, social media memes, and interactive events.
 
In addition to virtual workshops on rain barrels and rain gardens for those stuck at home, we’ve presented online horseshoe crab walks and talks, webinars on art and conservation, scavenger hunts for Delaware River watershed highway signs, and of course, a whole series of posts on how Manny, our four legged morale officer was spending his time. I hope you saw some or all of these creations – they provided knowledge, insight, a window into the natural world and, often, a needed laugh in these difficult times.
 
There is a tremendous sadness from losing friends, relatives, and fellow Americans to this pandemic. We stand in awe of the courage of frontline workers and responders and thank them for their efforts and sacrifices.
 
From the beginning, way back in 1961, the foundation for the Littoral Society’s work is that there is a future, which can be better, if we work toward it together.

We look forward to that day and seeing you again on the beach. Until then, be safe.
 
Tim Dillingham, Executive Director