Strategic Communications

Bringing together a county, state and federal partnership, breaking a 30-year long logjam

To bring together three levels of government which operated on different fiscal and planning calendars to achieve what had seemed impossible for the past 30 years would be a daunting task - one that bordered on impossible without considerable public support. But how do you generate a major chance in public understanding of a problem that was just a mile off the beach yet virtually no one in the local community had heard about it, much less seen it?...(more)

William Nuckols being interviewed by Rusty Dornin, CNN

Using media coverage to bring new partners to ongoing efforts

In Puget Sound Washington the Northwest Straits Commission, a civilian regional organization created by federal statute, was achieving significant results working with commercial divers to recover derelict fishing gear from the bottom of the seafloor. While already successful given their resources, the overall problem exceeded the resources available, and some nets were at depths beyond which the civilian divers could recover under OSHA rules. Thankfully there is a training mission overlap for military divers and the watercraft operators who support them and the net recovery project needs of the civilian agencies.

However, how to attract military teams to Washington State to do their training, and therefore implement the win-win salvage work, remained a daunting question....(more)

USAToday Coverage of joint civilian/military efforts to train to remove nets from Puget Sound, WA
(photo by William Nuckols)

Reducing peripheral neuropathy in the U.S. population by emiminating high levels of zinc from denture cream adhesives

Information had been building for some time indicating that there may be serious health effects to a portion of the population that uses dental adhesives on a regular basis. The American Academy of Neurology published a study in October 2008 documenting the medical link between denture cream and neurological disease. However, as important as peer reviewed studies are they are often decisive in legal proceedings are the opposition fields its own studies and experts. Real pressure can come to play by engaging the public, and accordingly before going to trial ...(more)

The ingredients of the popular denture glue, Poligrip, are to be removed from production amid fears it is damaging the health of millions of pensioners worldwide.