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WiLDCOAST's Serge Dedina Named 2009 Coastal Hero August 29, 2009 PRESS RELEASE

WiLDCOAST Executive Director Serge Dedina has been named as one of nine 2009 California Coastal Heroes by Sunset magazine and the California Coastal Commission.

Dedina and his fellow honorees are profiled in the September issue of Sunset Magazine and will be honored at the California Coastal Commission's 25th anniversary celebration in San Francisco, CA on September 17.

The executive director of the San Diego based coastal and marine conservation organization- which celebrates its tenth anniversary next year-was recognized for helping "to protect coastal ecosystems and wildlife in California and Mexico," said Katie Tamony, Sunset's editor-in-chief.

Under Dedina's leadership, WILDCOAST has helped to preserve more than one million acres of coastal and marine habitat in California and Baja California and carried out innovative campaigns to preserve endangered shark and sea turtle populations. WiLDCOAST recently initiated a partnership with the San Diego Zoological Society to provide support for its California Condor restoration program in Baja California.

Dedina, who grew up in and still resides in Imperial Beach on the U.S.-Mexico border, received his doctorate in geography from the University of Texas at Austin. He also holds a bachelor's degree from UCSD and a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A longtime surfer, he received the 2003 Surf Industry Manufacturer's Association Environmentalist of the Yea Award and the 2009 San Diego Zoological Society's Conservation in Action Award.

The author of Saving the Gray Whale, Dedina also authored the forthcoming Pirate Sea: Dispatches from the Coast of the Californias. Thanks to a California Wellness Foundation Sabbatical Award he spent the summer surfing and researching coastal and marine conservation and national parks management in Australia and New Zealand with his wife Emily Young and sons Israel and Daniel.

Other honorees include UC Santa Cruz Institute of Marine Science Director Gary Griggs, Director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Julie Packard, John Hanke of Google Earth, Linda Sheehan of the California Coastkeeper Alliance, State Senator Alan Lowenthal, actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Pierce and Keely Brosnan.

WiLDCOAST conserves coastal and marine ecosystems and wildlife.

925 Seacoast Drive, Imperial Beach CA 91932, USA www.wildccoast.net
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Serge is a dedicated guy who works hard for the environment. He surfs up and down the coast with his 2 grom rippers. He was also instrumental in the fight over Trestles. It's always great to support a surfer who works this hard for us all. Now we have to buy Sunset Magazine in September to get more of the scoop. Hit the Wild Coast website to help out.
Thanks.
Phil