Joanne McDonough Biography Sketch

Joanne McDonough is a nature tourism specialist on the Alabama Gulf Coast, where she promotes the sustainable use and conservation of natural resources that benefit the economy and the environment through a nature tourism initiative. This initiative is funded and managed jointly by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (MASGC), and the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau (AGCCVB).
Joanne divides her time between one-to-one business planning sessions with nature tour operators and conducting “The Business of Nature” workshops that provide support, enhancement tools, resources and environmental education of the habitats and species that make Alabama a premier nature destination.
Prior to this initiative, she traveled around the world as an editor and producer for the CBS Network Television programs: Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt, The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, 48 Hours and CBS News 60 Minutes. In 1992, she and her husband Lynn Rabren moved to Orange Beach, Alabama and started a boat building company, Caribiana Sea Skiffs. They ran the company’s day to day operations, and Joanne became a USCG licensed captain, who conducted nature tours along Alabama’s Gulf Coast until they sold the business in 2006. Currently, Joanne and Lynn reside in Orange Beach, Alabama.