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| Coastal Clash: Press Release |
KQED-PRODUCED COASTAL CLASH ASKS,
"WHOSE COAST IS IT, ANYWAY?"
One-Hour, High-Definition Documentary and Companion Public Radio Series Look at California's Coastal Conflicts
San Francisco, California -- "Let's go to the beach" has
always been an entitlement of California living, with 80 percent of Californians
living within 30 miles of the water's edge. But as urbanization continues
to encroach on the 1,100-mile-long coast, our shoreline has come under
siege. Development is swallowing up miles of coastline; access to beaches
is being cut off; and seawalls may be causing beaches to disappear. A
battle is raging around the fundamental question: Whose coast is it, anyway?
Coastal Clash (www.kqed.org/coastalclash), a one-hour, high-definition documentary produced by KQED Public Television, takes an in-depth look at the many sides of the struggle for California's shores. Premiering on Friday, November 12, at 9:00 p.m. on KQED Public Television 9, Coastal Clash will also air on KQED digital channels.
Many Californians believe that the passage of the Coastal Act in 1976 and the subsequent creation of the California Coastal Commission and California Coastal Conservancy effectively saved the coastline for its citizens. But despite the fact that California leads the nation in its protection and management of coastal resources, few locations in the United States rival California for its constant, intense pressure for development or for the politics that plague the operations of the California Coastal Commission.
Coastal Clash travels the California coastline and introduces representatives from all sides of the issue. Environmental experts, coastal scientists, government representatives, community leaders and property owners reveal the state's history of tension between public vs. private coastal interests, examine the science of sea walls and their effect on beaches and offer examples of both failed and successful attempts at coastal development.
Exploring the effects of seawalls, Coastal Clash visits
the communities of Solana Beach and Pacifica. Beach access is examined
in Malibu and Mendocino County, development in Santa Barbara County, and
land trusts in San Luis Obispo County and the San Mateo Coast.
The Coastal Clash project draws upon KQED Public Broadcasting's
multiple platforms to offer a public radio companion series, a content-rich
Web site and extensive educational outreach.
KQED Public Radio's statewide news program, The California Report, will produce a companion series of four features about California's coastal access, the history and future of the California Coastal Commission, coastal development, and the impact of dams on beaches. These stories will be broadcast each Friday morning from October 22 through November 12 prior to the premiere of Coastal Clash, will be streamed online as part of The California Report and will be archived on the Web sites for both The California Report and Coastal Clash. Please contact KQED for radio broadcast dates as they are not available at the time of press release distribution.
The Coastal Clash Web site (www.kqed.org/coastalclash)
explores the history of California coastal development, providing background
to some of the stories covered on the air and providing Web-exclusive
stories about the Big Sur Land Trust, the Long Beach Breakwater and Ballona
Wetlands in Southern California. The site also covers the mechanics of
beaches, such as natural processes, the effects of dams and seawalls,
the economics of beach maintenance and the tension between access and
preservation. There will be links to state and local resources, lesson
plans for educators and a bulletin board encouraging viewers to share
their thoughts on the ongoing issues along the California coast. Streamed
versions of songs written for the documentary by Chris Shiflett of the
Foo Fighters will be provided.
Coastal Clash will team up with KQED Education Network (EdNet) to create resource guides, lesson plans and video clips for K-12 classrooms. These will be offered to teachers through KQED EdNet. Content areas include earth science, biology, environmental studies, and U.S. history.
Community screening partners in Coastal Clash include
the California Coastal Commission; San Francisco
State University; University of California, Santa Cruz;
University of California, Santa Barbara; Humboldt State
University and KEET; and the Stephen Birch Aquarium-Museum
at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California,
San Diego and California Coastal Conservancy.
Coastal Clash is a production of KQED Public Television in San Francisco. Michael Isip is executive director. The executive producer is Sue Ellen McCann. Elizabeth Pepin and Christa Resing are co-producers. Sheraz Sadiq is associate producer and Karyne Holmes is editor.
KQED Public Broadcasting operates KQED Public Television 9, one of the nation's most-watched public television stations during prime-time, and KQED's digital television channels, which include KQED HD, KQED Encore, KQED World, KQED Life and KQED Kids; KQED Public Radio, the most-listened-to public radio station in the nation with an award-winning news and public affairs program service (88.5 FM in San Francisco and 89.3 FM in Sacramento); KQED.org, one of the most visited station sites in Public Broadcasting; and KQED Education Network, which brings the impact of KQED to thousands of teachers, students, parents and media professionals through workshops, seminars and resources.
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