Larry McKinney grew up in a small town in west Texas during the worst drought in the state's history. It inspired him to revolutionize Texas's water policies by using ecosystem-based coastal management. Colleagues hope his new move will raise awareness of the Gulf of Mexico's national importance: more than 60% of US lands drain into the gulf. See CV

Escaping the desert, McKinney became an oceanography undergraduate at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi. His PhD focused on the origin and distribution of amphipods, tiny crustaea, throughout the Gulf and Caribbean. A summer fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution working with the biologists there sealed his academic intentions.

But first he found his expertise in demand for addressing real-world problems. Having returned to Texas A&M, McKinney became involved in several high-profile research projects. One — studying the environmental impacts of pumping concentrated brine out of oceanic salt zones to create cavities for the strategic petroleum reserve — led to the creation of the Texas Environmental Engineering Field Laboratory, which McKinney oversaw. He successfully brought in additional grants and contracts for other coast-based research work, but got burnt out chasing money.

When the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department asked him to help establish a resource-protection division, he accepted. Endangered-species concerns soon created controversy among landowners. McKinney crafted several policies, including funding for landowner conservation efforts, which became part of the federal Endangered Species Act.

At the Parks and Wildlife Department, McKinney sought to incorporate ecosystem-based management by connecting conservation, hydrology and economics. Andy Sansom, now director of the River Systems Institute at Texas State University in San Marcos, says McKinney successfully got an ecological component into Texas water policy despite the state legislature's reluctance. “Larry developed that capability and capacity by bringing sound science — that could not be discounted — to the table,” says Sansom.

McKinney says two massive challenges face the Gulf of Mexico: population growth and climate change. “If we don't build a strong science base to develop policies while we still have some options, it's going to be a disaster,” he says.

With McKinney ready to tackle such nationwide issues, Samson says the Harte Institute will realize its potential to become a Scripps Institution of Oceanography or Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute for 'America's third coast'.