Rachel Gwin

Rachel has worked at the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance for 13 years now and keeps CBA’s mission of preserving local waterways as a goal in her professional and personal life. Living in the Florida Panhandle for over 20 years gave Rachel a deep appreciation for the beauty of the waterways found in Okaloosa and Walton Counties and led to her completing a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Florida State University.

After graduating from FSU, she completed a year of service with AmeriCorps during their first year partnering with CBA. She loved learning all about the watershed, educating the public, inspiring the next generation of water stewards, and especially taking part in the hands-on restoration of eroding shorelines.

After her year of service was complete, she was hired on at CBA, where she worked as a Program Specialist for 3 years, working on shoreline restoration, conducting water quality monitoring, and helping with annual seagrass surveys. In 2014, she happily accepted a position as CBA’s Restoration Coordinator and was later promoted to the Senior Program Manager over the restoration program in 2021, where she has worked to expand CBA’s restoration programs and is actively involved with many regional and national working groups for restoration, living shorelines, and invasive plants. Rachel completed her GIS certification through the University of West Florida, which has helped greatly with permitting and grant reporting.

She enjoys monitoring the restored habitat to see all of the species that utilize the reefs for habitat, and loves working with the community to foster their appreciation for our beautiful watershed.