Each year the Gulf Resilience Community of Practice gives an award recognizing an individual who has done an exemplary job of communicating resilience challenges in the Gulf of America. This year, the group announced that the Spirit of Community Award in the individual category goes to deEtte Smythe, the regulatory manager for the planning and development department for St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana.
The Gulf Resilience Community of Practice is a group of several hundred professionals throughout the Gulf of America who work together to learn how coastal communities can adapt to natural hazards, sea-level rise, precipitation changes and other resilience challenges. Members of the group who have attended at least one annual meeting are eligible to vote for award winners.
Smythe has been an active participant in the community of practice for over 10 years. She not only attends as many meetings as possible, she has also served as a presenter several times to showcase the work St. Tammany Parish government is doing to increase resilience. She is currently co-leading the Undertreated Wastewater Task Force for the parish, which grew out of a water quality task force she began in 2008.
Resilience efforts within St. Tammany
Her community maintains a class 7 in the Community Rating System (CRS), and she works with other communities to encourage participation in the program. As of June 2024, the unincorporated areas of the parish had over 29,500 National Flood Insurance Program policies, and the 15% discount provides over $2.5 million per year in savings to the community. She continually seeks grant funding to address issues inside of the parish, including projects that target water and air quality. Many of these projects have won awards for the parish, such as the 2022 Gulf Guardian Award for work on pollution in the Bayou Liberty Watershed.
Resilience work with partners
In addition to her many resilience efforts within St. Tammany Parish, Smythe has also engaged with a wide range of partners across multiple sectors to foster greater environmental awareness and regional cooperation. For example, she was the driving force behind the creation of FLOAT, a CRS Users Group for the communities along the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain. She continually works closely with state agencies so that all communities can benefit from the sharing of information, thereby maximizing CRS points.
In 2011, she and St. Tammany Parish served as a pilot community for the creation of the Coastal Community Resilience Index. She also works closely with the Association of State Floodplain Managers at both the federal and state level. Furthermore, when there is flooding within the Pearl River Basin, she partners closely with community leaders and state representatives in the state of Mississippi to coordinate response efforts.
The Gulf Resilience Community of Practice is proud to have dedicated partners like Smythe, whose many years of service have helped advance the cause of coastal conservation and brought about increased awareness of long-term environmental challenges.
Meet the author
Stephen Deal
Extension Specialist (Land Use Planning)
Stephen works with floodplain managers, building officials, city officials, scientists and Sea Grant partners to provide information and training related to flood and storm resilience. He holds a... Read more
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