Meet Morgan Crutcher
As the technical and policy assistant at the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL), Morgan provides staff with accurate and reliable scientific, technical, and policy information for the purpose of establishing CRCL’s advocacy positions. Her broad range of previous work includes lobbying D.C. congressional staff for passage of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act for Ducks Unlimited, building nutria captivity pens in a flotant marsh for the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in Louisiana, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to analyze changes in wetland vegetation in relation to Great Lake levels for the USGS Great Lakes Science Center in Michigan, interviewing Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailer residents along the Mississippi Gulf Coast for a Columbia University study on the health needs of this population, fenceline monitoring of an oil refinery in St. Bernard Parish for the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, and much, much more!
She credits her current position at CRCL to two life-altering decisions. The first was in 2000, when Morgan transferred from the University of Tennessee to Loyola University in New Orleans, where she still lives today. The second was her decision to take Bob Thomas’ class on Mississippi River Delta ecology. From then on, Morgan was forever attuned to all things coastal Louisiana. In 2006, she showed up on CRCL’s doorstep with a passion for visioning the future of coastal Louisiana and a request for a summer internship. They offered her the position, and four years later, she answered their call for a full time position. Along with Communications Director Scott Madere, Morgan provides the office with eternal optimism, a smiling face, and on occasion, donuts.
A third culture kid, Morgan has lived in eight different states and passed her senior year of high school in French-speaking Belgium. She never says no to an opportunity to travel, and in addition to visiting many countries across Europe and the Americas for fun, she has volunteered in both Africa and Central America.
“For me, the common, defining element of all the places I’ve lived or visited has been water,” says Morgan. “How we access it, allocate it, use it, treat it, manage its flow across the landscape, desire to live next to it as a feature of that landscape, and value it as a resource are all important questions when considering settling an area. Therefore, coastal Louisiana is naturally a fascinating and unique place to me, both culturally and physically. I am personally and professionally committed to its future.”
Morgan has a bachelor’s in environmental studies from Loyola University New Orleans and a master’s in natural resource policy from the School of Natural Resources and the Environment (SNRE) at the University of Michigan. A proud wolverine and “SNERD,” she loudly cheered Michigan to victory at the 2012 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans and dreams of the day when the Wolverines and Louisiana State University Tigers meet in the Rose Bowl.