FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The Weeks Bay Foundation, a nonprofit group formed to support the mission of the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR), has hired Amy Gohres as full-time Gulf regional training coordinator. In the position, Gohres will work with the reserve’s Coastal Training Program to provide targeted professional workshops.

According to the foundation, her work will result in increased opportunities for professional audiences to access technology and further their professional development. Workshops conducted by Gohres will promote activities that improve the health of the Gulf of Mexico by addressing the needs of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GOMA) Priority Issue Teams and providing technical assistance to the five Gulf states as well as local communities.

“I’ll work with five different research reserves on coastal training, to provide targeted professional development for coastal decision makers,” Gohres said. “I will make sure they are in line with GOMA priority issues.”

Those issues include quality for healthy beaches and shellfish beds; wetland and coastal conservation and restoration; identification and characterization of Gulf habitats; reducing nutrient inputs to coastal ecosystems; and coastal community resiliency.

Project partners include the Gulf of Mexico Alliance, Weeks Bay Foundation, NOAA’s Coastal Services Center, Apalachicola NERR, Grand Bay NERR, Mission-Aransas NERR, Rookery Bay NERR, Weeks Bay NERR, Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Support for this position comes from a three-year grant through NOAA CSC.

“We are excited about these new partnerships and pleased to announce that Amy has joined our team,” said Walter Ernest IV, foundation executive director. “This is a perfect example of partnerships working together to educate coastal decision makers and protect our coastal resources.”

Ernest said Gohres has hit the ground running, already developing a workshop for landscaping professionals regarding the use of fertilizers. He said other workshops will focus on the many issues of coastal resiliency, including the importance of living shorelines rather than bulkheads and other methods to reduce or eliminate adverse impacts on the environment.

Plans currently call for a total of five workshops, one to be held at each of the NERR facilities along the coast. As time passes, the topics will be updated for a particular region and offered at another reserve for convenience.

“We will discuss how to plan to reduce flooding by using smart development on the coast,” Gohres said. “There will also be workshops on using natural grasses and native plants that allow natural habitat along shores and prevent erosion. There are some instances where it’s feasible to have a living shoreline, and sometimes it’s not.”

Ernest noted that during the economic downturn, it is important to bring together organizations to partner on relevant coastal management issues, while enabling the Weeks Bay NERR to continue its work even as funding declines. Although her office is at the Weeks Bay Foundation headquarters on Highway 98 near Fish River, Gohres will also be coordinating with similar Coastal Training Programs in Florida, Mississippi and Texas.

Prior to accepting the position, Gohres was an environmental specialist for The Home Depot, developing, implementing and managing companywide environmental initiatives.

“I was responsible for developing and managing their environmental programs,” she said. “I made sure in-store associates didn’t harm the environment, and set up florescent bulb and battery recycling.”

Gohres earned a bachelor of science degree in environmental engineering from Louisiana State University and a master of science in environmental engineering and science from Clemson University. The New Orleans native lives in Daphne.