Winter 2014

Coastal

Winter 2014

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Volume 25 No.4

Vincent J. Musi / National Geographic

Conservation League

Save the Santee

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Stop Offshore Drilling

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Skimmers are Back! 12

North Coast News 14

Wild ‘Shrooms Go Legal 20

Focus on the Future

Winter 2014

Vol. 25

Laying the Groundwork for Growth

No. 4

STAFF ____________________

Director Dana Beach

REGIONAL OFFICES _____ ________________ SOUTH COAST

Project Manager Reed Armstrong

NORTH COAST

Office Director Nancy Cave

COLUMBIA

Office Director Merrill McGregor

Govt. Relations Specialist Anne Peterson Hutto Utility Regulation Specialist Kenneth Sercy

_______PROGRAMS _____________

Program Directors Hamilton Davis

Michelle Sinkler Lisa Turansky Katie Zimmerman

Project Managers Myles Maland Natalie Olson Ellie Bomstein

GrowFood Carolina Sara Clow Jessica Diaz Nina Foy Jeff Mitchell Benton Montgomery Jake Sadler Lindsey Sydow Bob Tremayne

DEVELOPMENT ____________________

Director of Development Senior Development Officer Membership & Comm. Director

Development Associate &

Events Manager

Nancy Appel Shannyn Smith Laurin Manning Bea Girndt

ADMINISTRATION ______________ ______

HR and Administration Director of Finance Data Manager Administrative Assistant Clerical Support

Tonnia Switzer-Smalls Tina Allen Nora Kravec Louann Yorke Chanta Adams

Board of Directors Roy Richards, Board Chair Andrea Ziff Cooper Jim McNab Joel A. Berly Margot T. Rose William Cogswell Richard Schmaltz Ceara Donnelley Jeffrey Schutz Berryman Edwards Charles M. Tarver Katharine Hastie John Thompson Jeff Leath David Westerlund G. Alex Marsh III Stephen Zoukis Pierre Manigault

Newsletter

Editor Virginia Beach Designer Julie Frye

P.O. Box 1765 ■ Charleston, SC 29402 Phone: (843) 723-8035 ■ Fax: (843) 723-8308 website: www.CoastalConservationLeague.org P.O. Box 1861 ■ Beaufort, SC 29901 Phone: (843) 522-1800 1001 Washington Street, Suite 300 ■ Columbia, SC 29201 Phone: (803) 771-7102 P.O. Box 603 ■ Georgetown, SC 29442 Phone: (843) 545-0403 All contents herein are copyright of the Coastal Conservation League.

Reprinting is strictly prohibited without written consent.

Cover Photograph — Vincent J. Musi / National Geographic

Focus on the Future

“Giant urban sprawl could pave over thousands of acres of forest and agriculture, connecting Raleigh to Atlanta by 2060, if growth continues at its current pace, according to a newly released research paper from the U.S. Geological Survey.”

- Washington Post “South Carolina was home to all three of the fastest growing metropolitan areas on the Atlantic coast in 2013, new Census Bureau estimates say.”

- Charleston Post and Courier

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rowth is back. After a five-year lull, development has rebounded on the South Carolina coast. But despite the bleak prediction by the U.S. Geological Survey quoted above in the Washington Post, the groundwork has been laid for a far more positive future here in the Lowcountry, thanks in large part to the work of the Coastal Conservation League and its allies in land use planning.

Unique in the Southeast, the South Carolina Lowcountry is a region where land conservation and community planning have been priorities. This has led to the development of a coastal greenbelt that will contain the expansion of development and conserve the “thousands of acres of forest and agriculture” the U.S. Geological Survey consigns to potential loss. However, more needs to be done.

Effectively managing growth requires addressing its two aspects — place and pattern. The twin goals of defining where development should and should not occur, and achieving efficient patterns of settlement in the right places, constitute the central challenges of land use planning.

The Importance of Place & Pattern During the 1970s and 1980s, development was consuming 400 acres a day in South Carolina. Too much land was being converted, and much of it in the wrong places. Over the next 25 years, the conservation community focused on preventing urban sprawl from overtaking the farms and forests that define the rural Lowcountry. Today some 1.2 million acres of land are permanently protected, and hundreds of thousands more have been C OA S TA L C O N S E RVAT I O N L E AG U E

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stabilized by the adoption of stronger zoning and infrastructure policies. With regard to place — the conservation and stabilization of rural land — our historic region is trending in the right direction.

We have been less successful achieving better patterns of growth. Poor land use decisions over the past half-century have produced cities, towns and suburbs that are wasteful, automobile-dependent and expensive for taxpayers. Protecting rural land is difficult, but the challenges pale in comparison to improving the quality of development in more urban areas. The difficulty arises from the fact that better growth requires not just changing zoning codes, but reforming the entire suite of public decisions that influence growth, from transportation plans to school siting policies.

Inspired by the “smart growth” and “new urbanism” movements, a few local governments have revised development guidelines. Simply put, they desire to encourage development with the same efficiency and beauty of South Carolina’s historic towns and cities; but they realize that virtually everything about these places is discouraged under existing land use laws. The layout of Historic Charleston, for example, was (and still is) illegal under present zoning codes.

Local planners recognize that people overwhelmingly want to live in places where they can walk or take a bus to work, enjoy inspiring public parks and squares, or

Greenbelt Vision Protected Lands Urban

Beaufort's historic downtown is efficient, functional and beautiful, but its replication would be illegal under most current zoning codes in the Lowcountry.

bicycle to a restaurant in the evening. They understand that not everyone wants to live in a single-family house on a one-thirdacre lot.

With this in mind, Beaufort created a plan for Boundary Street that supports traditional patterns of development.

Likewise, Mount Pleasant’s Coleman Boulevard plan aspires to blend commercial and residential land uses, connected by sidewalks, bike lanes and a bus route.

Charleston’s gathering place ordinance attempts to create walkable communities that use land efficiently.

The Challenge of Implementation Implementation of plans and ordinances has proven more difficult than creation of the plans themselves. Building at higher densities is essential to achieving the functional benefits that come with traditional towns and cities. Building up is better than spreading out. But building up is not enough. In the absence of other changes to support different modes of transportation — such as pedestrian and bicycle access and public transit — building up adds to more congestion. Further, selecting the right places for density is critical.

The public is often suspicious of urbanism. Observers have said that the only thing citizens dislike more than sprawl is density. Cities and towns have to deliver the full package of traditional urban amenities in

Over the past 25 years, more than 1.2 million acres of land have been protected on the South Carolina coast, creating the framework for a continuous greenbelt extending from the Savannah River to the North Carolina border.

Effectively managing growth requires addressing its two aspects — place and pattern. The twin goals of defining where development should and should not occur, and achieving efficient patterns of settlement in the right places, constitute the central challenges of land use planning. order to overcome the objections of neighbors.

This is easiest when new development occurs within historic cities. The City of Charleston has quietly, and largely effectively, supported extensive “infill” housing on the peninsula. The opportunities here are vast. Thousands of additional apartments and single family houses can fit seamlessly and beneficially into the existing fabrics of Charleston, North Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Georgetown and Beaufort, on sites ranging from a few acres to former brownfield locations spanning hundreds of acres — like the Magnolia development on the Charleston Neck.

Suburban infill, like I’On in Mount Pleasant and New Point in Beaufort, is more challenging politically. Still, these projects have proven that attention to details, mixed land uses, and density can produce extraordinarily positive results.

The problems come with implementation of projects like The Boulevard in Mount Pleasant and the Maybank Gathering Place on James Island. Substandard architecture, a lack of adequate public transit, and no C OA S TA L C O N S E RVAT I O N L E AG U E

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connections to adjacent properties have fueled the perception that more density simply equals more traffic. The worst application of the gathering place model was undoubtedly the proposed Angel Oak Village, an apartment complex on the far edge of John’s Island, threatening one of the most iconic symbols of the rural sea islands.

Urban planners have said that it will take another century to repair the damage that has been done in places like Atlanta. I suspect this is an optimistic projection. But unlike Atlanta and most of the Southeast, the Lowcountry is in an enviable position with the emergence of a protected, protective greenbelt surrounding its metropolitan areas, and with historic towns and cities that serve as models for functional, efficient development. We are moving in the right direction on place and have engaged in the debate on pattern. The next few decades will decide the fate of our historic landscapes — whether sprawl will deal them a fatal blow, or today’s prognosis will be a temporary exaggeration.

Save the Santee

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Save the Santee USFWS WETLANDS INVENTORY

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Estaurine and Marine Deepwater

ixteen miles from its mouth, the Santee divides; and these two streams flow independently into the ocean. Between them is the lonely delta of the Santee, formerly one of the greatest rice-growing areas of North America, but now returned to a green wilderness as primeval as it must have been in the days of the Indians. Once under a high state of cultivation, it is now the semi-tropical haunt of wild boars, deer, alligators, wild turkeys and myriads of wild fowl. In fact, it is one of the great American Rivieras for migrated ducks.”

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SACRED GROUND

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he Nile, the Ganges, the Yangtze, the Po, the Amazon and the mighty Mississippi: river deltas have spawned civilizations and ecosystems around the world.

The names alone connote wellsprings of cultural and biological richness. For South Carolinians, the Santee Delta represents a similar nexus of human and ecological history, albeit on a smaller scale.

The name “Santee” hearkens back to the delta’s Native American and French ancestry. For thousands of years prior to European settlement, American Indians harvested shad and shellfish

from the river and hunted and burned the adjoining forests. Beginning in the 17th century, the French and English, using the labor of enslaved West Africans, established the delta’s first rice growing operations — some 39 plantations in all — an enterprise that produced nearly half a million bushels of rice annually and made an indelible imprint upon the landscape and culture.

Over the millennia, countless species of wildlife have also called the delta home, including shad, diamond backed terrapin, sea turtle, alligator, waterfowl, crane, wildcat and bear.

The tremendous freshwater flow of the Santee is legendary in North America — second only to that of the

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Atlantic Ocean

The black lines represent proposed routes of a transmission line across the Santee Delta.

POWER SHORTAGE

St. Lawrence River — extending a mile out into the ocean prior to the river’s damming in 1942.

Descendants of the first French, English and West African settlers still populate the Santee Delta today — as do descendants of the delta’s abundant native flora and fauna. So rich is the history and biota of the region that it has been designated part of a 60-mile UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve that stretches from Capers Island to Hobcaw Barony. Beginning in the early 1900s, long before the ACE Basin conservation initiative began, the lands and waters and wetlands of the Santee Delta region were being purchased and protected.

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Bull’s Bay

DELTA CROSSING Proposed McClellanville transmission line stirs passionate defense of Santee Delta

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McClellanville Substation

Henk Brandt

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Today, 21st century needs have led to a modern day plan for erecting gigantic transmission towers across the Santee Delta. Since 2002, similar plans have been proposed to remedy the low voltage and frequent power outages experienced by residents of McClellanville and South Santee, two communities that lie along the southern edge of the Delta.

McClellanville and South Santee sit at the far end of a power distribution line coming up from the south. As a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) describes, “the existing 40-mile-long circuit suffers from issues related to poor reliability and power quality, resulting in substandard electric service for Berkeley Electric’s cooperative members in the McClellanville area."

The distribution line is owned

by S.C. Electric and Gas (SCE&G), which sells power to Moncks Cornerbased Berkeley Electric Cooperative.

Berkeley taps into the SCE&G line in order to serve its customers in the McClellanville and South Santee area.

To address the reliability issue, the Central Electric Power Cooperative of Columbia — the wholesale power provider for the state’s cooperatives — has reintroduced a proposal for a new transmission line extending from

WHAT YOU CAN DO w Contact CCL Project Manager Natalie Olson at natalieo@scccl.org or 843-723-8035 to receive periodic updates about the McClellanville transmission line. w Thank Senator Chip Campsen for his defense of the Santee Delta at 803-212-6340 or through the State House email portal www.scstatehouse.gov/email.php?T=M&C=302272691

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Save the Santee

“Life in darkness is something you learn to live with if you are going to call McClellanville your home . . . I would rather live my life in darkness than to have you destroy one of the most amazing places on this Earth. Let my lights continue to flicker while you go back to the drawing board. Surely you can find a route that does less harm.

I beg you, leave the delta alone.”

-Selden Hill, director of the Village Museum at McClellanville

impacts and alternatives, would be the greatest of errors.”

THE PEOPLE SPEAK State Senator Chip Campsen describes the Santee Delta as “one of the most ecologically diverse and protected ecosystems on the East Coast,” recognizing the tens of thousands of acres that have been conserved by private landowners and public resource agencies. Harriott Cheves Leland, who has deep roots in the delta and also

S.C. Dept. of Natural Resources

Georgetown, north of the Santee, down across the delta to a new substation west of McClellanville.

The proposal has ignited concerns and protests up and down the South Carolina coast. Opposition to 100-foot-tall, H-frame towers cutting a 70-foot swath through the heart of the delta has galvanized Lowcountry citizens. With dozens of endangered and threatened species at stake and numerous National Register historic properties in the path of the transmission line, public comment at two recent hearings has been nearly unanimous in disapproval of the proposed route.

Moreover, the Coastal Conservation League has formally challenged the DEIS submitted by the permit applicant, citing the study’s failure to adequately analyze the plant and animal species, and the cultural and historic resources, in the affected area. League Project Manager Natalie Olson, in her comments to the federal oversight agency reviewing the project, concludes: “Allowing a proposal to construct a new transmission line through one of South Carolina’s most ecologically and historically sensitive regions to move forward, without a thorough analysis of

The Santee Gun Club's gift to the State of S.C. of 23,000 acres on the Santee Delta in 1974 was one of the most valuable private donations to conservation in the history of the U.S.

Coastal Alert serves as archivist for the Huguenot Society of South Carolina, states, “Perhaps one of the most valuable, but also most difficult to explain things about the Santee Delta is its ‘sense of place.’ It is a fascinating and fragile area which cannot be replaced.”

Poet Libby Bernardin and retired biologist Phil Wilkinson, both longtime residents of the Georgetown area explain, “Over many years, landowners committed considerable sums of money and effort to manage these lands for the benefit of wildlife. An out-ofcharacter structure such as an elevated power transmission line crossing the delta at any point would degrade years of community planning, effort and financial commitment.”

Some McClellanville residents have gone so far as to say they’ll get along with subpar power if it means preserving the very reason for living where they do. Says Anne Knight Watson, “I see no reason to violate the pristine Santee Delta. None at all.

I’d rather continue with intermittent [electrical] service than to have any of the various pathways planned across the Santee Delta be used.”

RESOLUTION IN THE WORKS For the last 25 years, the Coastal Conservation League has worked on numerous conservation issues in and around the Santee Delta. Two of its most significant accomplishments in the region were the passage of a new management plan for the Francis Marion National Forest after Hurricane Hugo that revived the forest’s native longleaf pine ecosystem, and the upgrading of the waters of the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge to the highest classification in South Carolina — Outstanding Resource Waters — affording the refuge the most stringent protections available. The late

Offshore Drilling...A Federal Folly Threats to South Carolina coast outweigh benefits

Richard Beck

The Stakes

he green light for seismic testing and fossil fuel exploration along the Eastern Seaboard has been given, setting the stage for offshore oil and gas leasing within the decade. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced a five-year leasing program for the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf, with the

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(continued on page 18) Richard Beck

possibility of underwater testing — in the form of sonic cannon blasts — starting as early as next year off the South Carolina coast (see sidebar on Sonic Cannons).

While offshore oil and gas development would potentially create some jobs for our state, it also creates detrimental liabilities in terms of oil and gas pollution and their effect on ocean life and the health of our beaches. As demonstrated by the BP Deepwater Horizon accident of 2010, one spill can decimate a region’s tourism and fishing industries. The U.S. Travel Association estimates that the BP spill caused $23 billion in tourism impacts over a three-year span for Gulf Coast states. This estimate does not include the impacts to coastal real estate and the region’s fisheries.

The state’s economy is reliant on tourism, which employs more than (continued on page 8)

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SONIC CANNONS: 100,000 Times More Intense than a Jet Engine Sonic cannons — also known as seismic air guns — are towed behind ships and shoot loud blasts of compressed air through the water and miles into the seabed, which reflect back information about buried oil and gas deposits.

The sound is 100,000 times more intense than a jet engine and is repeated every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, for days and weeks at a time.

Approximately 138,500 whales and dolphins will soon be injured and possibly killed along the East Coast if exploration companies are allowed to use seismic air guns to search for offshore oil and gas.

SEISMIC AIRGUN BLASTING Coastal Alert

Coastal Alert

IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN HOW IT WORKS

COASTAL MAYORS GO ON RECORD

Seismic airgun blasting is used to locate oil and gas deposits deep below the ocean floor.

HYDROPHONES SEISMIC AIRGUN

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley: “Proposed seismic air gun testing will result in serious negative impacts to our marine resources that form the foundation of economic vitality for communities all along the Atlantic coast.”

graphic by Oceana

Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling: “I think it is a huge threat without a whole lot of justification. What is the impact to tourism of oil rigs? What is the impact on tourism of an accident?”

LOUD BLASTS OF COMPRESSED AIR

Hilton Head Mayor Drew Laughlin: “I understand the need for oil exploration, but I’m opposed to any offshore drilling or exploration that has a chance to affect the quality of life in this community. If there’s a disaster, what happens?”

OIL & GAS DEPOSITS Vessels tow large arrays of seismic airguns which shoot extremely loud blasts of compressed air through the ocean and miles under the seafloor, every ten seconds, 24 hours a day, for days to weeks on end.

Join Oceana! Take action at oceana.org.

175,000 South Carolinians — about one out of every ten workers — and generates $19.3 billion in economic Graphics by Randall Santiago & Sylvia Liu output each year. Experts agree that our steady and lucrative tourism industry is directly dependent on the state’s pristine coastal resources and high quality of life.

In a recent editorial, the Charleston Post and Courier expounded on this critical relationship: “South Carolina needs to attract new jobs and revenue, but it would be shortsighted to risk the tourism industry with its demonstrated ability to employ tens of thousands and generate billions of dollars for one with no track record in South Carolina and a spotty record elsewhere. Lowcountry leaders are right to oppose offshore drilling, despite the blandishments of the industry and its SOURCES

U.S. Department of the Interior

advocates, including elected officials in Columbia and Washington, D.C.” The Reality

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he allure of lower gas prices and energy independence has convinced some that the presumed benefits of offshore drilling outweigh the risks. The reality is that the best information currently available leads one to conclude the opposite. Analyses by the Bush Administration’s Department of Energy determined that development of Atlantic oil and gas reserves would have an insignificant impact on consumer prices and foreign energy dependencies.

Special interest groups like the American Petroleum Institute claim C OA S TA L C O N S E RVAT I O N L E AG U E

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these are outdated numbers and new exploration will reveal larger reserves of fossil fuels along our coast.

Unfortunately, the data collected from more recent exploration activities will not be shared with the taxpayers or the states’ legislators, thereby making a legitimate cost-benefit analysis impossible.

In the absence of new data, we are left with what we know today: offshore drilling poses critical threats to fisheries, estuaries, wetlands, marine mammals, shellfish, and seabirds, as well as the quality of life enjoyed by our coastal communities. Certainly some jobs would be created at refineries and storage facilities. The construction of pipelines to transport oil under our beaches and across our marshes

Henk Brandt

would also generate some employment opportunities. But at what cost? The S.C. Board of Economic Advisors studied the issue in 2009 and concluded the following: “Given the relatively low amount of potential resources off our shores and the environmental sensitivity of our coastline, there does not seem to be much incentive to drilling off South Carolina at current prices . . . While offshore oil and gas activities have become much safer in recent years, spilled oil and coastal shorelines don’t mix.”

“The Board of Economic Advisors report was very prescient,” comments Hamilton Davis, Energy and Climate Director for the Coastal Conservation League, “given that it was compiled prior to the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010, from which Gulf Coast wildlife, fisheries and communities have still not recovered.”

Davis and League colleague Katie Zimmerman have written and spoken in opposition to offshore exploration and drilling before the Department of the Interior, which oversees the BOEM, and in local and national media. They are

now working with partners from local, state, regional and national conservation organizations, as well as with South Carolina’s political leadership, to combat this federal threat to our beautiful coast.

WHAT YOU CAN DO w Contact Energy & Climate Director Hamilton Davis at hamiltond@scccl. org or 843-723-8035 to receive periodic updates on offshore oil and gas exploration & information to pass on to your local councils and mayors. w Contact the S.C. Congressional delegation in Washington D.C. at http://sc.gov/Government/Pages/ congressionalDelegation.aspx to let them know you oppose offshore oil and gas exploration off our coast. w Sign a statewide petition voicing your dissent at http://www.islandpacket. com/2014/10/08/3359367_petitionopposing-offshore-drilling.html?rh=1

cartoon by Robert Ariail C OA S TA L C O N S E RVAT I O N L E AG U E

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Energy Update

Energy Update

NEW HORIZONS

Next Steps for Solar

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Richard Beck

WHAT YOU CAN DO w Visit CCL’s Think Energy SC website for more information on this rule: http://thinkenergysc.com/cleanpower-plan-111d/ w Public comments to the EPA can be submitted here: http://www2.epa.gov/carbonpollution-standards/how-commentclean-power-plan-proposed-rule w More Information on the DHEC stakeholder process can be found at: http://www.scdhec. gov/HomeAndEnvironment/Air/ cleanpower/

Carbon Rule will Help South Carolina

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ecently proposed carbon pollution standards (Rule 111(d) of the Clean Air Act) will provide South Carolina with much flexibility for reducing carbon emissions in an individualized, cost-effective manner.

Instead of cookie-cutter requirements for every power plant in the country, the federal standards allow discretion at the state and utility system level to reduce carbon with both traditional energy resources and clean energy alternatives like efficiency upgrades and solar power.

South Carolina is well positioned to develop a cost effective plan that maximizes the economic, health and environmental benefits of reduced carbon pollution. Carbon reduction targets for all states, including South Carolina, were developed, taking into account each state’s own energy mix and applying four factors:

w Potential to boost system-wide energy efficiency (increased efficiency reduces total system carbon emissions) w Potential for deploying zero-carbon energy resources, including renewable sources like solar and wind, as well as nuclear w Potential to boost coal plant efficiency (which decreases carbon emissions per unit of coal burned) w Available capacity potential to increase natural gas usage (natural gas produces less carbon pollution than coal) Our state’s available energy efficiency capacity is vast, due to longtime underinvestment in efficiency programs that have left customers with some of the highest electricity bills in the nation.

Further, South Carolina has tremendous potential for deploying solar power, as evidenced by landmark legislation passed during the 2014 legislative session. Along with the planned coal

(l-r) Mike Couick, President & CEO of the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, Hamilton Davis of CCL, State Senator Greg Gregory, and Keller Kissam of SCE&G watch as Governor Haley signs the Solar Energy Bill into law at Half-Moon Outfitters in Columbia.

plant retirements and capacity replacements with natural gas and other sources, South Carolina is on track to reduce its power sector carbon emissions quickly and economically.

The Conservation League is currently participating in a state planning process for Rule 111(d) hosted by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), which also includes broad stakeholder

engagement from electric utilities, industry, regulators and environmental justice advocates.

This stakeholder process is focused on finding an appropriate balance of renewable energy, energy efficiency and traditional resources to meet our state’s carbon reduction goals.

©Shutterstock

by Hamilton Davis, Energy & Climate Director

ith the passage of Act 236 during the 2014 legislative session, South Carolina turned a corner on utilizing our state’s solar energy potential. But there is still work to do by way of implementing the legislation’s various components.

A key aspect of Act 236 is a process for updating South Carolina’s net energy metering regulations. Net Energy Metering (NEM) is the manner by which a home or business owner is credited for excess electricity that flows back onto the power grid from their rooftop solar panels. Typically, NEM programs credit excess solar power at the retail electricity rate and allow a home or business to offset electricity that they get from the utility when their solar panels aren't producing power. This exchange works like rollover minutes for a cell phone plan.

Act 236 requires that the S.C. Public Service Commission, the state’s utility regulatory body, take a closer look at the value of solar power delivered to the grid and make any adjustments necessary to ensure that NEM offers a fair transaction for all parties (i.e. the solar customers, the utility, and utility customers that do not install solar on their rooftops).

The Conservation League is working with our partners to make sure the full value of solar is recognized through this process, and that the intent of Act 236 is respected when making any changes to NEM. Increasing access to solar energy in South Carolina will result in a more vibrant economy, as well as cleaner air and water for our citizens.

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For the Birds

For the Birds

Skimmers are Back!

Thanks to a partial closure of Deveaux Bank, seabirds have rebounded

n reality, most South Carolina beachgoers are unaware of how rare black skimmers (Rynchops niger) have become. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, skimmers nested in colonies of tens of thousands on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. A century later, less than a thousand nests were found in South Carolina. By 2012, skimmers were reduced to only five breeding areas in the state, with the colony at Deveaux Bank — once a skimmer stronghold — failing to produce a single fledgling (hatched chicks that can fly on their own) for three consecutive years.

“The continued existence of the black skimmer in South Carolina was in doubt,” says biologist Felicia Sanders with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR). “For this to happen on our watch was untenable. We had to do something.”

DNR bioligist Felicia Sanders (above) oversees all state seabird and shorebird monitoring along the South Carolina coast, including on Deveaux Bank (shown below).

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Life and Death Struggle Deveaux Bank is a horseshoe shaped sand spit encompassing a 215-acre bird sanctuary at the mouth of the North Edisto River, between Seabrook and Edisto islands. Uninhabited and accessible only by boat, Deveaux is a favorite of many, including surf fishermen who ply the bank’s shallow waters for bass and tarpon, weekend boaters who picnic on the beach, and local shrimpers who motor past in wooden trawlers.

Unbeknownst to all but a few scientists and birdwatchers, a life and death struggle has been occurring on Deveaux. Since the black skimmer prefers to nest on the lower parts of a beach, it is the most vulnerable of the seabirds to spring tides and human intrusion. While the beach above high tide (where most seabirds nest) is officially closed yearround at Deveaux, the area between the tideline and the water — known as the intertidal zone — is open to beachgoers.

Skimmers are extremely shy and lay their eggs in shallow scrapes of sand near the high tideline, using all areas of the intertidal beach for courtship, resting and raising chicks. Thus, people and dogs (which are prohibited on Deveaux) frequently encroach on

Dana Beach

skimmer habitat during the breeding season, causing the birds to fly up and defend their nests, leaving eggs and babies vulnerable to preying laughing gulls and the scorching summer sun.

Minimizing such disturbances is essential to the viability of successful fledglings.

Vincent J. Musi / National Geographic

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“Even the most ornithologically oblivious beachgoers are transfixed by the evening appearance of skimmers, carving patterns in golden water along the edge of the sea.” - Dana Beach, DEVEAUX

Time to Act In the summer of 2013, the Coastal Conservation League, in partnership with the Audubon Society and DNR, implemented and coordinated a “bird babysitting” program to help as many chicks as possible to fledge on Deveaux Bank. Volunteers devoted their weekends to protecting the skimmer nests and other breeding birds at Deveaux, educating boaters and visitors about the plight of these magnificent seabirds.

The results were encouraging: 23 skimmers fledged, along with hundreds of royal tern fledglings and thousands of brown pelican fledglings. For the skimmers, in particular, the bird-sitting program demonstrated a clear need to reduce disturbance by humans.

To further protect against disturbance, in 2014 DNR closed additional portions of the seabird sanctuary to people, specifically those intertidal areas where breeding and brood rearing occur between May and October. The designated boundaries of the sanctuary were flexible, so that scientists could adjust and shift the off-limit zones depending on where the birds were and in what stage of development. This approach ensured the protection of the skimmers, but also allowed visitors access to areas that were not critical to the birds.

Success “This year’s closures at Deveaux were more successful than we could have ever imagined,” reports DNR’s Felicia Sanders. “More than 100 black skimmers fledged and the flocks of young pelicans were the largest I have seen in my career.” Sanders credits the collaboration between the Conservation League, DNR and local fishermen, which created a win-win solution for the birds and the boating public.

WHAT YOU CAN DO w Obey the “No Dogs” law on Deveaux Bank and other seabird islands. w Don’t let children run and flush birds. Teach them to give the birds needed space for rest and refueling. w Avoid walking close to signs, ropes and fencing that protect seabird nesting areas. If the birds are circling and calling above your head, then you are too close. w Consider the intertidal zone (between the water and the high tideline) the “nursery area” for young birds — where they learn to feed, fly and eventually fend for themselves.

“This year, exponentially more chicks survived. They also fledged earlier than usual, probably because the parents were less disturbed and could remain settled in one area, expending less energy on (continued on page 18)

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North Coast

North ThankCoast You! 73

that threatens the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge and the Pee Dee River basin. As a bridge across the Waccamaw River connecting Highway 17 east of the river with Highway 701 west of the river, SELL is being touted as a new hurricane evacuation route. In reality, SELL will add more vehicles and congestion to area roads and do nothing to assist with hurricane evacuation.

Like I-73, SELL lacks funding and is even further away from a permitting decision. While SCDOT issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) in 2008, there has been no money to complete a Final Environmental Impact Statement. If funding is found to revisit the DEIS, the Conservation League stands ready to re-engage in halting this unneeded and environmentally damaging project.

Together, I-73 and SELL would divert billions of dollars from critical transportation needs in Horry County and statewide.

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Working to preserve and promote the best of Georgetown and Horry

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n my 13 years of experience with the Coastal Conservation League, I have learned that our work is a balance between preserving natural resources and planning for growth. Each issue must be assessed for its environmental and community impacts, its political implications, and the likelihood of a successful outcome. Successful outcomes require a combination of policy, education, negotiation and litigation persistently applied over many years, a combination that ideally emboldens and engages the community. It is the complex multifaceted nature of this work that engages us in every aspect of planning for growth and conservation — from roads to marinas to parks.

Anne Malarich

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES:

by Nancy Cave, North Coast Director

I-73 & SELL

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ew roads entail significant financial, environmental and community costs.

In Horry County, the Conservation League has been battling two costly and unnecessary highway projects, Interstate 73 (I-73) and the Southern Evacuation Lifeline (SELL), since their inception more than 20 years ago. I-73 — the $2.4 billion interstate linking Myrtle Beach and I-95 — has been, and continues to be, driven by Myrtle Beach development interests, without regard to impact on quality of life for existing residents and disregarding the 350+ acres of wetlands and 9,000 linear feet of streams that would be significantly impacted.

Furthermore, this unnecessary road comes at a time when the SCDOT faces significant economic shortfalls necessary to maintain the current highway system.

Most importantly, the Conservation League released an independent study that revealed that improvements to the existing S.C. 38/U.S. 501 road corridor, called the Grand Strand Expressway (GSX), would deliver similar economic and transportation benefits, at a fraction of the cost of building I-73.

It has been six years since the final Environmental Impact Statement for I-73 was issued and SCDOT just recently C OA S TA L C O N S E RVAT I O N L E AG U E

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determined a mitigation plan that they think will be acceptable to the permitting agencies for the wetland destruction.

Likewise, SCDOT has not received adequate funding required to build it, with just $56 million allocated for the multibillion-dollar highway. Without a clear picture of how the road will be funded and why such a destructive project is needed, our goal is to mobilize the community to express their concerns during the permit decision process, likely to occur next year.

I-73 is not the only bad transportation idea looming over the north coast. SELL is another ill-conceived proposed road

PROTECTING PLANTERSVILLE

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estled on the banks of the Pee Dee and Black rivers, Plantersville is an area at the center of Georgetown County’s historic rice culture. Like many rural areas, Plantersville is facing the threat of encroaching

Bladen Co.

GSX Revitalization vs I-73 Proposal (I-95 to Conway Bypass)

Marlboro Co.

Dillon

95

9

Dillon Co.

74

Robeson Co.

501

Legend 74

Whiteville GSX Revitalization

76 41

38

I-73 Proposed Route 9

N

SO OR U TH TH C C AR A R OL O LI INA N A

Mullins

76 76

Highway Wetland 701

9

Marion

Interstate

Columbus Co.

River/Open Water Urban Area

73

County Boundary Marion Co.

501

410

Horry Co.

701

Conway Bypass 9

Brunswick Co.

Florence Co. 905

22

378

17 90

Conway

378

North Myrtle Beach 501

41

Carolina Bays Parkway

Williamsburg Co.

Myrtle Beach 701

Georgetown Co. 0

2.5

5

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10

suburban sprawl style development.

Three years ago, the Conservation League began working with residents to establish a Plantersville Scenic Byway Advisory Committee with the goal of designating the 12-mile Plantersville Road as an official state “scenic byway.”

In 2012, the General Assembly approved the designation and in 2013 the advisory committee’s corridor management plan was accepted by SCDOT. The primary challenge before the committee was the protection of the area’s unique natural and cultural assets from ill-planned and inappropriate development.

With the corridor management plan in hand, the committee has applied to the S.C. Conservation Bank for funding to buy a one-acre tract at the corner of Highway 701 and Plantersville Road, on which to build a visitors center with

Nancy Cave

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20

25 Miles

Created by: Jovian Sackett Last updated: June 06, 2012 Data Sources: National Wetlands Inventory (USFWS); Tele Atlas, N. America, Inc; ESRI.; US Census Bureau

kiosks to direct visitors to the historical, cultural, natural and recreational opportunities along the byway.

Meanwhile, The Nature Conservancy of South Carolina continues to negotiate conservation easements to protect private lands in the area, augmenting preservation initiatives along the public roads and waterways.

PRESERVING PRINCE GEORGE

P

awleys Island is the fastest growing region of Georgetown County. In its midst, extending from the ocean across Highway 17 almost to the Waccamaw River, lies the Prince George Tract — 1,200 acres of undeveloped land owned by the University of South Carolina Development Foundation.

Prince George Tract includes magnificent longleaf pine forest and red cockaded woodpecker habitat as (continued on page 18)

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Transportation Reform

Transportation Reform

Putting Transportation Dollars to Work

By Merrill McGregor (l) & Anne Peterson Hutto (r), Government Relations

Throughout the history of our state, no single activity has had a greater impact on land use and development than our road system.

In the future, no area of public policy has more potential for mitigating the environmental impact of development than transportation. That’s why the Coastal Conservation League has taken the lead among conservation groups to reform transportation policy in South Carolina.

Prioritization is Key The Conservation League is working to ensure that the state’s resources, both natural and financial, are used wisely.

This goal can be accomplished by prioritizing spending and enhancing the availability of alternative modes of transportation, such as bus transit, rail, bicycle and pedestrian access. However, this is a challenging task.

Altogether, there are nearly 350 governmental entities involved in project selection — 46 legislatively controlled transportation committees, 46 county councils, 10 regional councils of government, 11 metropolitan planning organizations, and more than 200 municipal governments.

Additionally, countless independent developers across the state are building extensive private subdivision roads.

In 2007, the Conservation League advocated that all future S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) projects be selected based on a data-driven prioritization process.

Our efforts were successful with the passage of Section 57-1-370(B) of Act 114 that same year. Today, references to Act 114 are usually in regard to the particular section mandating prioritization. The Conservation League was instrumental in the creation and passage of this law that requires SCDOT to prioritize its projects.

Skirting the Law Unfortunately, loopholes to Act 114 do exist. The prioritization mandate does not extend to every SCDOT transportation project, including congressionally mandated projects (e.g.

I-73), local option sales tax projects, and, most notably, State Transportation Infrastructure Bank (STIB) projects.

A maze of shadow agencies and boards continue to manipulate the project selection process.

The Chairman of the STIB has noted that they “voluntarily” follow the requirements of Act 114. But in August 2013, the STIB approved an additional $130 million, on top of the already committed $420 million, for the I-526 extension, a project not listed in the Act 114 priorities. The I-526 extension — a project that would extend an interstate across rural John’s Island and entail the construction of two unnecessary bridges that would devastate the surrounding environment — is a prime example of fiscal waste and irresponsible government.

Meeting Real Needs Highway funding prioritization must be addressed in South Carolina. Our maintenance needs are tremendous, congestion on existing roads is getting worse, and bicycle and pedestrian facilities are practically nonexistent. New funds should be restricted to meet real needs, not just build new roads.

Only through prudent resource management and increased accountability can taxpayers be assured that highway dollars are being spent to repair, improve and maintain our existing road system, rather than wasted on construction of unnecessary roads that harm our communities and environment. This is why transportation reform is one of the Conservation League’s top priorities for the 2015 legislative session.

Only through prudent resource management and increased accountability can taxpayers be assured that highway dollars are being spent to repair, improve and maintain our existing road system, rather than wasted on construction of unnecessary new roads that harm our communities and environment.

WHAT YOU CAN DO w Contact your representatives in the S.C. General Assembly to voice your support of transportation policy reform. w Visit Fix26.com to learn more.

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To Be Continued...

(SANTEE... continued from page 6)

(NORTH COAST...continued from page 15)

Jane Lareau, a program director for the Conservation League, spearheaded both initiatives in the 1990s.

The Conservation League is in a unique position to help broker a solution to the McClellanville transmission line for two reasons: its long track record of environmental protection in the delta and its active role in enhancing state energy policies under the leadership of Energy and Climate Director Hamilton Davis. Earlier this fall, Davis and Natalie Olson initiated conversations with the electrical cooperatives (Berkeley and Central Electric), SCE&G, conservation interests in the region, and U.S. Representative Mark Sanford (R-SC, 1st District), to work together for a better solution.

Already there is movement toward resolution. Mark Svrcek, COO for Central Electric has gone on record stating that his cooperative acknowledges the strong public sentiment against intrusion into the delta: “We heard loud and clear the concerns about crossing the delta. We’re sensitive to that and want to work with Berkeley and the Rural Utilities Service [a USDA funding agency].”

Likewise, Keller Kissam, president of retail operations for SCE&G, says, “SCE&G is ready to assist, as requested, to provide reliable service in the region, while taking into consideration the various concerns of all stakeholders. I believe that all regional energy providers will work together to broker an acceptable solution.”

“The Conservation League will continue to work with all interested parties to craft the right resolution,” concludes Olson. “This is good news for the Santee Delta and good news for the wildlife and people who call it home.”

(BIRDS...continued from page 13)

moving and re-nesting,” adds Janet Thibault, a DNR biologist assisting Sanders. As a result, DNR was able to shift the closure boundaries once the parents and fledglings moved from the southwest side of Deveaux (across from Botany Island) over to the northwest side (across from Seabrook). This gave visitors access to the south beach for fishing earlier in the season than had been anticipated.

“The 2014 partnership and effort on behalf of the beautiful and threatened black skimmer is something we can all be proud of,” says Sanders. “By continuing to work together in 2015 and beyond, we can save the skimmer and other nesting seabirds, while continuing to enjoy public access at places like Deveaux.”

South Carolina has 187 miles of coastline. Deveaux Bank is less than a mile. Reserving a small portion of beach for the birds can ensure future generations the enjoyment of the Lowcountry’s astounding beauty and wildlife diversity.

Without undisturbed stretches of shoreline, iconic species like the black skimmer will ultimately disappear from our region.

well as extensive wetlands and woodlands. In 2012, the Conservation League learned that the foundation intended to sell the land for development.

This discovery prompted the League to take action and convene The Nature Conservancy, the Southern Environmental Law Center and adjoining property owners to craft a conservation solution. After many meetings and broad community involvement, the goal is in sight. The Development Foundation has agreed to accept a conservation buyer and will be working with the conservation community to make this a reality.

In House Donor Spotlight

Charley Tarver Joins CCL Board

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Nancy Appel Appointed Director of Development This summer, Nancy Appel joined the staff of the Conservation League as director of development. A Minnesota native with more than 15 years of fundraising experience, Nancy previously worked as director of philanthropy at The Trust for Public Land and director of development at the Hazelden Foundation. Before that, she worked for several nonprofit organizations in Baltimore.

Nancy is a certified fund raising executive (CFRE) and is passionate about helping people to give joyously. She and her husband live in Mount Pleasant where she enjoys running, going to the beach, gardening, bird-watching, reading and playing with her three cats.

Nancy Appel

DEFENDING BUCKSPORT he Bucksport Marina on the Waccamaw River in southern Horry County is a community marina jointly owned by the Grand Strand Water & Sewer Authority and Santee Cooper. The marina currently is used by boaters, campers, fishermen and the local Bucksport community. In late 2013, Grand Strand Water & Sewer applied for a permit to construct an industrial marine commerce facility on the approximately 141-acre site and to dredge the Waccamaw River.

An industrial marina on the Waccamaw, adjacent to the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge, would pollute the river and air, threaten wildlife habitat, block the community’s access to the river, and fill the area’s twolane roads with trucks. Local opposition to a project with such intrusive and potentially detrimental impacts was predictably immediate and impassioned.

After careful review of the intended uses and promised benefits of the marina and the potential impacts to the surrounding community and natural resources, the Conservation League joined with the Waccamaw Riverkeeper, the Bucksport community, the S.C. Environmental Law Project and other organizations to oppose construction of the industrial site. More than 100 people attended the public hearing to speak in opposition.

While the proponents touted jobs and economic opportunity for the area, the Conservation League and its partners asked Grand Strand Water & Sewer to define what kind of industry would occupy the marina. That question has led to a halt in the permitting process.

Permits are not issued on speculation, and the Corps of Engineers has asked for more specifics on the proposed boat building, bulk cargo and barge operations that may occupy the marina. Until Grand Strand provides sufficient information regarding the intended use and impacts, the permit application remains on hold.

New Staff

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elcome to our newest member of the Coastal Conservation League Board of Directors, Charles M. Tarver. Charley and his wife, Susan, are residents of Bluffton and of “Longleaf,” their quail-hunting plantation in southwest Georgia.

Charley was born in Mobile, Alabama and was reared on the family farm near Sunflower in Washington County, about 60 miles north of Mobile. After graduating from Auburn University in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science degree in forest management, Charley entered the United States Air Force, where he served from January 1969 until April 1974, achieving the rank of captain.

Following his military service, Charley and Susan and their two children moved to Atlanta. While employed at the First National Bank of Atlanta, he began investing in timberland on behalf of some of the bank’s clients and a few years later left the bank to start a private timberland investment company. This company later became Forest Investment Associates (FIA), one of the largest timberland investment companies in the country.

Charley retired from FIA in 2008 and has been very active in forestry and conservation organizations. He has served on the boards of the American Forestry Association, Forest Landowners Association, Georgia Forestry Association, Forest Landowners Tax Council, Forest History Society and The Nature Conservancy. He currently serves on the boards of the Longleaf Alliance and TERN (The Environmental Resource Network), as well as the Advisory Council of the University of Georgia Press.

Laurin Manning Named Membership & Communications Director Laurin Manning joined the Coastal Conservation League in August as Membership and Communications Director. She comes to the League after more than a decade of working at the intersection of politics and technology on the local, state and national levels. Most recently, she served as Senior Digital Strategist at American Bridge 21st Century, a SuperPAC based in Washington, D.C. Laurin is a native of Hartsville, South Carolina. She attended Wofford College and the University of South Carolina School of Law. She lives on James Island.

Laurin Manning

Ellie Bomstein Joins Food and Agriculture Program Ellie was born and raised in Washington, D.C. and attended the University of Michigan where she earned a B.A. in environmental studies with a concentration in land use. She completed a Masters in regional planning from Cornell University, where her research focused on building value chains for small and sustainable farmers.

After graduate school, Ellie returned to Washington to work on the operations and logistics team of a sustainable online grocery startup. She is an avid skier, Michigan sports fan and cook.

Ellie Bomstein

Lindsey Sydow Joins GrowFood Carolina Lindsey became a member of the GrowFood Carolina team in August 2014. She is a Charleston native with a passion for sustainability, local food systems, and preserving the Lowcountry ecology. Lindsey recently earned her Bachelor’s of Science degree in geology from the College of Charleston. She is excited to be a part of the movement to make healthy local food accessible to everyone in the community. In her free time, Lindsey enjoys drumming, kayaking, climbing, and walking in the woods.

Lindsey Sydow

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Members’ Corner

Members’ Corner

Thank You!

Legalization of Wild Mushrooms: A Victory Worth Savoring

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earty thanks to all who have made gifts to support the work of the Coastal Conservation League in 2014.

For those of you who haven’t made a gift this year, there’s still time. Just be sure to postmark your contribution before December 31st using the envelope provided and we’ll continue to send you the CCL newsletter, periodic updates, and invitations to our wonderful events.

We’d love to hear why you give and what you love about the Lowcountry. Give us a call at 843-723-9895 and share your story!

S

upporters gathered at the GrowFood warehouse earlier this fall to celebrate the passage of Regulation 61-25 — which allows the legal harvest and sale of wild foraged mushrooms in South Carolina. The collaboration of GrowFood Carolina and CCL with the Office of the Governor and the S.C. Dept. of Health and Environmental Control is a groundbreaking win-win for the state and its many farmers.

GrowFood Carolina Celebrates $1 Million in Revenue Returned to South Carolina Farmers

Coastal Legacy Society

S

ince its founding in 2011, GrowFood Carolina now serves more than 50 farms within a 120-mile radius of Charleston, aggregating locally grown produce for marketing and distribution to more than 135 customers, including retail markets and restaurants as well as farm-to-school programs. Total revenues paid out to farmers as of 2014 amount to approximately $1 million.

The Coastal Legacy Society honors those who have provided for the Coastal Conservation League through their wills or estate plans. By making a gift to the Coastal Legacy Society, you will join this group of extraordinary individuals in their commitment to protect the Lowcountry for generations. If you are interested in finding out more about naming the Coastal Conservation League in your will or estate plans, please contact Shannyn Smith at 843-725-2058 or shannyns@scccl.org.

Drs. T. Brantley and Penny L. Arnau Judith and Robert Bainbridge Ethel-Jane Westfeldt Bunting* Russell and Judith Burns Charlotte Caldwell Chip and Betty Coffee Marcia Curtis* Carol B. Ervin Mary C. Everts* Robert W. Foster, Sr. Dr. Annette G. Godow Florence E. Goodwin* Janis Hammett Ms. Teri Lynn Herbert Katherine M. Huger Susan H. Jackson Katherine Cheshire Knott* Dr. Thomas R. Mather Miles F. McSweeney Mr. and Mrs. Michael B. Prevost Ellen and Mayo Read Mr. Jason A. Schall Ms. Dorothy D. Smith* Gus and Cameron Speth Mr. and Mrs. John J. Tecklenburg Mr. and Mrs. Thad Timmons Sarah W. Toomer* George W. Williams

ANGELS BY THE RIVER — A Memoir and Call to Action A memoir written by Gus Speth, founding board member and long-time supporter of the Conservation League, was recently published in October.

photos by Jonathan Boncek

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omplex and J A M E S G U S TA V E S P E T H inspirational, Angels by the River follows James Gustave “Gus” Speth’s life through his southern boyhood, Angels by the River &0!109 to his career as one a memoir &0!109 of the country’s most influential environmentalists, to his current revolutionizing activism.

In this compelling memoir, Speth explores the issues and realities that have shaped the nation, the environmental movement, and his life’s work.

*deceased

Reflections on race, environment, politics, and living on the front lines of change

Join CCL on the Web! CoastalConservationLeague @scccl @scccl http://bit.ly/JoinSCCCL

1989 Society This year, CCL celebrates its 25th Anniversary. In honor of our founding in 1989, we invite you to consider a gift of $1,989 to the Conservation League — an amount that recognizes all of our great accomplishments together over the last quarter of a century. Simply indicate on your check "1989 Society" before placing it in the envelope provided. Thank you!

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Thank You To Our Photographers CCL extends special thanks to the photographers who donated their beautiful work to this newsletter issue: Henk Brandt, Richard Beck, Jonathan Boncek, Anne Malarich, Dana Beach & Vince Musi.

LIVE OAK SOCIETY Contributions received from October 1, 2013 - October 31, 2014

The Coastal Conservation League works very hard to ensure that all donor names are listed correctly; however, occasional mistakes do occur. Please contact Database Manager Nora Kravec at (843) 725-2057 with any questions or corrections.

Henk Brandt

$10,000+ Anonymous (4) AMG Charitable Gift Foundation GF Anonymous Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation GF Penny and Bill Agnew GF BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation GF Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation GF Butler Conservation Fund, Inc. Charlotte Caldwell and Jeffrey Schutz GF Ceres Foundation, Inc. GF Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina GF Mr. and Mrs. Jamie W. Constance Mr. and Mrs. Edwin H. Cooper III Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation GF Strachan Donnelley Family Charitable Lead Unitrust Mrs. Vivian Donnelley Mr. and Mrs. P. Steven Dopp Mr. and Mrs. John O. Downing GF Dr. Paula Feldman and Mr. Peter Mugglestone GF The Festoon Foundation, Inc. Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund GF Foundation for the Carolinas The Samuel Freeman Charitable Trust GF Nancy and Larry Fuller Laura and Steve Gates GF Mr. Joseph H. Gleberman Godric Foundation The Grantham Foundation William and Mary Greve Foundation Mr. Hank Holliday The Rev. Alanson Houghton Mr. and Mrs. John Philip Kassebaum Peter R. and Cynthia K. Kellogg Foundation GF Mr. and Mrs. Peter R. Kellogg GF Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Lane Mr. and Mrs. Hugh C. Lane, Jr. GF Mills Bee Lane Foundation Mr. T. Cartter Lupton II GF Dr. and Mrs. G. Alex Marsh III The Meadows Charitable Trust Merck Family Fund Mertz Gilmore Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Jeremiah Milbank III Mr. and Mrs. Edward Miller Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Ms. Justine J. Nathan National Foundation for Philanthropy GF Pathfinder Foundation, Inc. GF Susan Pearlstine GF Mr. and Mrs. Howard Phipps, Jr. Price R. and Flora A. Reid Foundation Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund Dr. and Mrs. Steven C. Rockefeller Gillian and Peter Roy GF

Jeffrey Schutz and Charlotte Caldwell GF Libby Smith GF Fred and Alice Stanback, Jr. Stony Point Foundation Mr. Daniel K. Thorne Daniel K. Thorne Foundation, Inc. Tides Foundation GF Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation Turner Foundation, Inc. Ms. Jane Smith Turner GF Jane Smith Turner Foundation GF Mr. Robert E. Turner IV GF USDA - Rural Development Business Enterprise Grant GF Mr. and Mrs. James C. Vardell III David and Ann Westerlund GF WestWind Foundation Dr. and Mrs. George W. Williams Joe and Terry Williams Yawkey Foundation Stephen and Suzan Zoukis GF

$5,000-9,999 Anonymous (4) Ms. Carrie Agnew GF Mr. David Anderson GF John and Jane Beach The Chicago Community Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Chitty Mr. and Mrs. William C. Cleveland The Clif Bar Family Foundation GF The Colbert Family Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation Community Foundation of the Lowcountry, Inc. GF Mr. and Mrs. Ashley Cooper GF Mr. and Mrs. John Crawford Mr. and Mrs. Martin G. Dudley Mr. and Mrs. Berry Edwards GF Mr. and Mrs. S. Parker Gilbert Katharine and Winslow Hastie GF Mr. and Mrs. Paul Kimball Mr. and Mrs. John E. Masaschi Mr. and Mrs. W. Wallace McDowell, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. James R. McNab, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Edward C. Mitchell, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Alan A. Moses GF Mr. Arnold Nemirow GF Susie O'Brien GF Pacolet Milliken Enterprises, Inc. Charles and Celeste Patrick GF Patrick Family Foundation GF The Prudential Foundation Matching Gifts Mr. and Mrs. Brooks Quinn GF Quinn Family Charitable GF Mr. and Mrs. Charles D. Ravenel Mr. and Mrs. James H. Rion, Jr. David W. and Susan G. Robinson Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Klaus Said Klaus T. Said Charitable Lead Annuity Trust Mr. and Mrs. Richard R. Schmaltz GF Drs. Ryan and Erin Smith

Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Stevens Mr. and Mrs. T. Paul Strickler Ms. Bailey W. Symington GF Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

$2,000-4,999 Anonymous (3) Ms. Kate Adams and Mr. Robert Sudderth GF Mr. and Mrs. Brady Anderson Anson Restaurant Mr. and Mrs. William Applegate IV Ashford Advisors LLC Mr. and Mrs. William R. Barrett, Jr. GF Virginia and Dana Beach GF Benwood Foundation, Inc. GF Henry M. Blackmer Foundation, Inc. GF Ms. Margaret P. Blackmer GF Mrs. Margaret N. Blackmer GF Bailey Bolen and Carol Ervin GF Mr. and Mrs. Daniel W. Boone III Dan and Merrie Boone Foundation Ms. Margaret F. Bridgforth GF Mr. and Mrs. Leigh Carter Leigh Mary W. Carter Foundation Nancy and Billy Cave GF Circular Congregational Church GF Mr. and Mrs. Richard E. Coen Mr. and Mrs. Edward Crawford GF Dr. and Mrs. Richard L. Cross Dr. and Mrs. William F. Crosswell Mr. and Mrs. J. Henry Fair, Jr. James L. Ferguson Mr. Robert W. Foster, Sr. The Freddie Mac Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Richard Garbee Ms. Mary Louise Graff Dr. and Mrs. Richard C. Hagerty Half-Moon Outfitters GF Mr. J. Drayton Hastie GF Mr. and Mrs. Matthew B. Hastings GF Mr. and Mrs. Andrew L. Hawkins Holly H. Hook and Dennis A. Glaves Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Ilderton Linda Ketner Bob and Jackie Lane Dr. Diane D. Lauritsen GF Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Leath, Jr. Le Creuset of America, Inc. GF Charlie and Sally Lee Lasca and Richard Lilly Dr. Suzanne Lindsay and Mr. Bruce Lindsay Magnolia Plantation Foundation GF Ms. Jean Elliott Manning Mr. and Mrs. Charles K. Marshall Dr. and Mrs. Thomas R. Mather Mr. and Mrs. Franklin McCann Mr. and Mrs. Francis X. McCann Mrs. Frank McClain Mrs. John L. McCormick Mr. and Mrs. James O. Mills Mr. and Mrs. Beezer Molten GF The New York Community Trust

Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Nolan Nordic Gourmet Tour GF The Osprey Foundation Mr. Guy Paschal Mr. and Mrs. David Paynter Dr. Fred Pittman Fred E. Pittman Fund of Coastal Community Foundation Mrs. Joan C. Pittman Joan Coulter Pittman Fund of Coastal Community Foundation Plantation Services, Inc. Mr. and Mrs. Michael B. Prevost Dr. George Rabb Mr. Richard Rainaldi and Ms. Martha Records Mr. and Mrs. William R. Richardson, Jr. Grace Jones Richardson Trust Ms. Catherine G. Rogers GF Margot and Boykin Rose GF Dr. H. Del Schutte, Jr. Schwab Charitable Fund Mrs. Anne Rivers Siddons Mr. David Siddons Ms. Martha Jane Soltow South Carolina State Ports Authority GF Gus and Cameron Speth GF William and Shanna Sullivan Jan, Susan and Karen Suwinski Mr. and Mrs. Jacques S. Theriot GF Mr. John Thompson and Ms. Julia Forster GF Gary and Mary Beth Thornhill Susan and Trenholm Walker GF Bob Rymer and Catherine Anne Walsh Dr. Robert Ellis Welch, Jr. Whole Kids Foundation GF Winfield Foundation Dr. Louis Wright and Ms. Patricia Giddens GF Mr. and Mrs. Stephen J. Ziff GF

$1,000-1,999 Mr. and Mrs. Johnston Adams Mr. J. Marshall Allen Mr. and Mrs. Richard Almeida Drs. T. Brantley and Penny Arnau Rev. and Mrs. Henry E. Avent, Jr. The Ayco Company, L.P. Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Baer Blackwater, LLC Mr. and Mrs. Thomas P. Blagden, Jr. Elizabeth Calvin Bonner Foundation Dr. Eloise Bradham and Dr. Mark George Mr. and Mrs. John Burbage GF Mr. and Mrs. Robert Burt Dr. and Mrs. Robert W. Cain GF The Cecil Family Central Carolina Community Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Childs Mr. Elliott S. Close The Coca-Cola Company Matching Gifts Program Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga, Inc.

Mr. and Mrs. John J. Cooney Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey A. Croft Mr. and Mrs. Colin Cuskley Mr. and Mrs. Michael F. Daly Ms. Connie Darden-Young and Mr. Jesse Colin Young Michael and Megan Desrosiers GF Dr. A. Richard Diebold, Jr. Mrs. Deborah Diebold de Naveja Mr. F. Reed Dulany, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Eaton Ms. Margaret D. Fabri Mr. David Farren Mrs. Harriott H. Faucette Ms. Martha M. Faucette Mr. H. McDonald Felder Mr. and Mrs. Peter Feldman Mrs. Nancy B. Fetter Mr. and Mrs. Ted Fienning GF Dr. and Mrs. Philip A. Finley Mr. and Mrs. H. Charles Ford Mr. and Mrs. Walter L. Foulke Dorothea and Peter Frank Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Freeman Mrs. E. Stack Gately Drs. Andrew Geer and Susan Moore Dr. and Mrs. Charles C. Geer Mr. and Mrs. George W. Gephart, Jr. Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund Google Dr. and Ms. Gene W. Grace Mr. Vincent G. Graham Mr. and Mrs. Richard T. Hale Ms. Mary E. S. Hanahan Mr. and Mrs. Ed Harley Mr. and Mrs. Robert K. Higgins, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. R. Glenn Hilliard Mr. William L. Hiott, Jr. James and Margaret Hoffman Mr. J. W. F. Holliday Mr. and Mrs. Peter M. Horlbeck Holly Houghton and David Walker Shayna Howell GF Mr. and Mrs. John Huey, Jr. Mr. Richard W. Hutson, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Orton P. Jackson III Ms. Anne F. Jennings Ms. Holly R. Jensen Mr. and Mrs. George P. Johnston Dr. William Kee and Dr. Franklin Lee Mr. William D. Keyserling and Family Mr. and Mrs. James E. Kistler Scott and Gayle Lane Mr. David Lansbury GF Mrs. Karyn S. Lee Mr. and Mrs. Craig Leister GF Mr. Otto E. Liipfert III GF Kathie Livingston Mr. Justin O'Toole Lucey, P.A. Mr. and Mrs. Scott B. MacGlashin Mrs. Martha Maguire GF Mrs. Patti Manigault Mike and JoAnne Marcell Market Street Trust Company Dr. John Mattheis Mr. and Mrs. David Maybank, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm McAlpin Tom and Wendy McNeil GF Mr. and Mrs. George McCoy Ms. Jamie Young McCulloch Mr. and Mrs. Clay McCullough

Mrs. Harriet P. McDougal Mr. and Mrs. John F. McNamara Ms. Georgia Meagher Ms. Martha Morgan Russell E. and Elizabeth W. Morgan Foundation Morning Sun Foundation Mr. and Mrs. M. Lane Morrison Ms. Elizabeth F. Orser Palmetto Brewing of Charleston LLC GF Ms. Cynthia Swanson Powell Mr. and Mrs. Gary P. Quigley Mr. and Mrs. S. Kim Reed Mr. and Mrs. J. Marshall Reid Dr. Georgia C. Roane Mrs. Susan Romaine Mr. and Mrs. C. Troy Shaver, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. W. Tobias Sherrill Mr. and Mrs. Edward M. Simmons, Jr. Mr. T. Grange Simons V Dorothy D. Smith Charitable Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Gary C. Smith Mr. Martin Smith Mr. Richard Smith Mr. William Smith Mr. and Mrs. Peter Sniderman Mr. and Mrs. Mark G. Solow Southern States Educational Foundation Inc. Libby and Charlie Speth GF Mr. Elton B. Stephens III GF Mr. and Mrs. Gordon C. Strauss Mr. and Mrs. W. Charles Sullivan Mr. and Mrs. Harold R. Talbot Mr. Michael P. Thornton Mr. and Mrs. R.E.E. Thorpe, Jr. Mr. John H. Tiencken, Jr. Tom Uffelman and Patty Bennett The U.S. Charitable Gift Trust Dr. and Mrs. Greg VanDerwerker Wade Crow Engineering Ms. Caroline Warren Sally Webb Ms. Sheila Wertimer and Mr. Gary Gruca GF Mr. and Mrs. Frederick H. West GF Dr. and Mrs. Tad Whiteside Ms. Walda Wildman and Mr. Mack Maguire Mr. and Mrs. John Winthrop Ms. Martha C. Worthy Nick and Jane Wyer

$500-999 Richard and Tannis Alkire Mr. Reed S. Armstrong The Ayco Charitable Foundation Chuck and Betsy Baker Balzac Brothers. & Co, Inc. GF The Barker Welfare Foundation Dr. Randy Basinger and Ms. Louise Burpee Mrs. Katrina Becker Mr. J. Anderson Berly III GF The Boeing Company Ms. Christine Bogrette Gen. and Mrs. Walter E. Boomer Ms. Amy Bunting Mrs. Blair Bunting Darnell Ethel-Jane Westfeldt Bunting Foundation Mr. and Mrs. John T. Cahill Mr. R. R. M. Carpenter Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin W. Cart Mr. Richard C. Clow GF Mr. Peter C. Coggeshall, Jr.

William and Lucile Cogswell GF Mr. and Mrs. Nigel W. Cooper GF Mr. and Mrs. David A. Creech Nancy and Steve Cregg Mr. and Mrs. Charles T. Cumbaa Mr. Hal Currey and Ms. Margaret Schachte Jane Tucker Dana and David D. Aufhauser Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth P. Daniels Mrs. Emily Darnell-Nunez Mrs. Palmer Davenport Mr. Chris Davis Mr. and Mrs. Emmett I. Davis, Jr. Ms. Jennifer Davis GF Mr. John G. Davis Curtis and Arianna Derrick Mr. Christopher DeScherer and Ms. Amanda Honeycutt Ms. Ann W. Dibble Mr. and Mrs. Peter B. Dodds Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Drummond Michael and Anna Eddy Mr. and Mrs. Howard D. Edwards, Sr. Mr. D. Reid Ellis Mrs. Catherine M. Englehardt Mr. Mark Essig and Mrs. Martha Craft-Essig GF Mark and Kay Ethridge Drs. Jean and Charles Everett Ms. Nina M. Fair Mr. and Mrs. Wayne R. Fanning Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Feldmann Mary Fleming Finlay Ms. Angie C. Flanagan Ms. Cindy Floyd and Mr. Pete Laurie Ms. Catherine H. Forrester GF Mr. John P. Freeman Mrs. Monte Gaillard GF Mr. and Mrs. Harold F. Gallivan III Dr. Annette G. Godow Mary Jane Gorman Dr. and Mrs. Stuart A. Greenberg Mr. and Mrs. D. Maybank Hagood GF Blair and Nancy Hahn Dr. Angela Halfacre Hank's Seafood GF Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Happe Dr. Kit M. Hargrove Ms. Sherrerd Hartness Whitney and Elizabeth Hatch Mr. and Mrs. William H. Hays III Mr. David O. Haythe Mr. and Mrs. Oliver R. Head, Jr. Mr. William J. Hennessy, Jr Mr. Fred B. Herrmann Mr. Edwin Hettinger and Ms. Beverly Diamond Ms. Susan Hilfer Mr. and Ms. John A. Hill Mr. and Mrs. Gregory Holmes Home Team BBQ GF Ms. Margaret L. Howell Mr. and Mrs. David L. Huguenin Ms. May Jones Mr. J. Edward Joye Mr. F. Kimball Joyner and Mr. Derek Riggs JustGive Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth S. Kammer Mr. Louis Kaufman Mr. and Mrs. James J. Kerr Randy and Jan Kienstra Mr. Mike Landrum and Ms. Brenda Smith Mr. Pete Laurie and Ms. Cindy Floyd

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Dr. and Mrs. Wood N. Lay Dr. and Mrs. William H. Lee Elizabeth C. Rivers Lewine Endowment of Coastal Community Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Fulton D. Lewis, Jr. Dr. and Mrs. Lanneau D. Lide Dr. I. Grier Linton, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Rayner B. Lotton Timothy J. Lyons, M.D. Randy MacDonald GF Dr. and Mrs. Michael A. Maginnis Dr. and Mrs. John C. Maize GF Dr. and Mrs. Brem Mayer Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence McElynn Mercato GF Dr. and Mrs. Keith Merrill Mr. and Mrs. Robert F. Meyer Mr. and Mrs. John A. Mills III Kincaid and Allison Mills Mr. and Mrs. John M. Mirsky Mistler Family Foundation GF Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Mistler GF Mr. and Mrs. Boulton D. Mohr Mr. and Mrs. William D. Nettles, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Nevin Dr. and Mrs. Alan I. Nussbaum Dr. Patrick M. O'Neil Ms. Ellen P. Oblow Dr. and Mrs. J. David Osguthorpe GF Ms. Hadley A. Owen Mr. and Mrs. Coleman C. Owens Mrs. D. Williams Parker Mr. and Mrs. Stephen M. Parks GF Dr. and Mrs. B. Daniel Paysinger Peninsula Grill GF Pepsico The Pittsburgh Foundation The Honorable Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Theodore H. Reading II Grant Reeves Revolutions Per Minute Mr. and Mrs. Henry F. Rivers, Jr. W. Thomas Rutledge, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Edwin F. Scheetz, Jr. Dr. and Mrs. Gerald J. Shealy Dr. David Shi Dr. James G. Simpson Dr. and Mrs. William M. Simpson, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Huger Sinkler II Slightly North of Broad Dr. Cynthia P. Smith Dr. and Mrs. James Stephenson Mr. and Mrs. Louis E. Storen Ms. Patricia Sullivan Mr. and Mrs. James Sullivan Charles and Jo Summerall GF Mr. Charles M. Tarver Mr. and Ms. William B. Tausig Ted's Butcher Block GF Mr. and Mrs. Noel Thorn GF Mr. and Mrs. Clyde W. Timmons Mr. and Mrs. John Trinkl GF United Way of the Piedmont Mr. and Mrs. Eliot Wadsworth II GF Elizabeth B. Warren Mr. and Mrs. Charles Webb Robin Elise Welch Dr. and Mrs. James D. Wells Dr. W. Curtis Worthington, Jr. Mr. Bradford Wyche and Ms. Diane Smock Janie Hindman Yeargin

GF = also a GrowFood Carolina Donor

Henk Brandt

Live Oak Society

Live Oak Society

Live Oak Society

P.O. Box 1765

Charleston, SC 29402-1765

For more information about the Coastal Conservation League, check out our website at www.CoastalConservationLeague.org

The mission of the Coastal Conservation League is to protect the threatened resources of the South Carolina coastal plain — its natural landscapes, abundant wildlife, clean water, and quality of life — by working with citizens and government on proactive, comprehensive solutions to environmental challenges.

Cover Photographer: Vince Musi

T

Vincent J. Musi / National Geographic

Dana Beach

he Conservation League extends its heartfelt thanks to National Geographic magazine photographer and Sullivan’s Island resident Vince Musi for his generous donation of images for our Winter 2014 newsletter issue (featured on this page, as well as on the cover and page 12). These photographs and more accompanied an article by Franklin Burroughs about the ACE Basin in the November issue of National Geographic entitled “Lowcountry Legacy.” They were also on display at the Charleston Library Society this fall in an exhibit called “Estuary,” made possible by the support of the Donnelley Foundation, Andrea and Edwin Cooper, the Bank of South Carolina, the Coastal Conservation League and other conservation partners.