Coastal Conservation League Fall 2020

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CO N S E R V A T ION LEAGUE

Love of the Land A passion for place is why we do what we do

The Staff Laura Cantral, Executive Director Reed Rayborn, Executive Assistant

Programs

Fall 2020

VOL.30 • NO. 1

Lisa Turansky, Chief Strategy Officer Emily Cedzo, Land, Water, & Wildlife Program Director Riley Egger, Land, Water, & Wildlife Project Manager Rachel Hawes, Land, Water, & Wildlife Project Manager Jason Crowley, Communities & Transportation Program Director Betsy La Force, Communities & Transportation Project Manager Robby Maynor, Berkeley County Project Manager Alan Hancock, Energy & Climate Advocacy Director Eddy Moore, Energy & Climate Program Director COLUMBIA Merrill McGregor, Director of Government Relations SOUTH COAST Jessie White, South Coast Office Director Juliana Smith, South Coast Office Project Manager

GrowFood Carolina

COVER IMAGE: An aerial view of the Ashley River, a scenic river beside a scenic highway forming a historic corridor threatened by development pressure.

Photograph by Gately Williams

Offices Charleston 131 Spring Street Charleston, SC 29403 843.723.8035 Beaufort 1212 King Street Beaufort, SC 29902 843.522.1800 Columbia 1219 Assembly Street Suite 202 Columbia, SC 29201 803.771.7102/803.758.5800 GrowFood Carolina 990 Morrison Drive Charleston, SC 29403 843.727.0091

Anthony Mirisciotta, General Manager Shaunda Fifer, Sales & Marketing Director Richard Finne, Warehouse Ops & Distribution Manager Kevin Gilly, Warehouse Ops & Distribution Manager Paul Haire, Inventory Control & Quality Assurance Specialist Katie Kuhn, Sales & Marketing Associate Austin Lucas, Warehouse Ops & Distribution Manager Benton Montgomery, Operations Manager Caroline Rothkopf, Sales & Marketing Assistant Deirdre Tanner, Supply Chain Wizard Brita Von Fossen, Sales & Marketing Manager Rebecca Watson, Farm Coordinator Maxwell Williams, Warehouse Intern

Administration

Tina Allen, Chief Financial Officer Deb Davidson, Human Resources Officer Andy Hollis, Director of Technology & Operations Kim Larson, Accountant Staci Loeffler, Database Administrator DeAnna Ridley, Bookkeeper Jamie Roschal, Office Coordinator

Communications

Adam Findeisen, Communications Director Jasmine Gil, Outreach Coordinator Diane Knich, Communications Manager Catie Lucey, Creative Services Associate

Development

Nancy Appel, Development Director Kati McArdle, Grants & Donor Communications Manager Tes Myrie, Major Gift Officer

Board of Directors

Ceara Donnelley, Chair Katharine Hastie, Vice Chair R. Kent Griffin, Treasurer John Thompson, Secretary Johnston C. Adams J. Anderson Berly, III

Daniel W. Boone, III Bill Brenizer Lee Edwards George Gephart Cynthia Kellogg W. Jefferson Leath, Jr.

Dana Beach, Founder

Magazine

Stephanie Hunt, Editor Adam Findeisen, Contributing Writer Braxton Crim, Designer Gately Williams, Photographer Miles Snaders, Contributing Photographer Paul Nurnberg, Contributing Photographer

Pierre Manigault Jeremiah Milbank, III Margot T. Rose David Westerlund Stephen Zoukis

Stay Rooted Root yourself in South Carolina forever. forever. Dig Dig deep deep and and ensure ensure lasting lasting protection protection of of our our state’s natural resources, communities communities and and coastal coastal quality quality of of life. life. To To make make aa legacy legacy gift or for more information, visit coastalconservationleague.org/planned-giving coastalconservationleague.org/planned-giving or or contact Director of Development Nancy Nancy Appel Appel at at nancya@scccl.org nancya@scccl.org or or (843) (843) 723-9895.

723-9895.

FROM THE DIRECTOR

Friends,

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na’s produce to communities with limited access to fresh, local food. Our goal is to distribute more than 5000 pounds of fresh food in 2020 to those who really need it, thanks to your generosity. GrowFood’s Soil to Sustenance program is just one example of our innovation in the face of adversity—a win for farmers and for a healthier community.

In these pages you’ll read stories that underscore the “why” of our work, the love of place that fuels our mission. I hope you’ll enjoy learning about why protecting Gullah Geechee heritage lands at Bay Point Island is crucial; about how GrowFood’s support of local farmers is coming full circle and growing even more farmers at Mepkin Abbey; about how we’re working to ensure a proposed seawall to protect Charleston from sea level rise is the most resilient and equitable plan possible.

Despite working remotely, we’ve been zooming in (pun intended) more closely than ever on what makes the Conservation League a vital player in a collective effort to protect and champion our natural environment. We can’t do it without you. Nor would we want to. As our new tagline says, “together changes everything.” After all, inclusion is about more than racial or socio-economic diversity—it’s also about biodiversity, about listening to and honoring all voices, the high-pitched cry of the skimmer as well as the call of the activist.

Let us know what you think. We’re listening.

Thanks for all you do.

Laura Cantral Executive Director

Gately Willaims

Well, as they say, “it’s been a minute.” This newsletter was initially slated to arrive in your mail in the spring, but Covid-19 arrived instead, upending so many welllaid plans.

In the interim, our team has shown incredible creativity and resilience in responding to challenges of doing conservation work during a pandemic. We’ve shifted how we meet, how we collaborate with our partners, how we mobilize our members for effective yet virtual grassroots advocacy. But one thing has not changed: why we do what we do. Our love of this place, our commitment to protecting our land, natural resources, community, and quality of life has remained our lodestar. I couldn’t be more proud.

While 2020 has delivered a triple whammy—regional impacts of climate change + global pandemic + the most intense racial equity and justice movement that we’ve seen since the 1960s—it has also helped us clarify and recommit to our mission. And it’s shown us areas where the Conservation League must improve, especially in terms of inclusivity. To this end we’ve been thinking strategically about what community means to us and to our work; about who we are engaging with and how can we do so more inclusively, both internally and externally. The work is ongoing, and we are committed to it. It will make us a more responsive and resilient organization.

Yes, there’s that word again: resilient. With your support, the Coastal Conservation League works to ensure our coastal region is one of resilient landscapes, resilient local food systems, and resilient people. Our success means these systems will stay healthy, strong, and well equipped to meet new and increasing challenges. Because if we’ve learned anything this year, it’s that we’ll continue to face new challenges and must continue to be creative and flexible. When restaurants shuttered due to Covid-19, we pivoted to distribute GrowFood Caroli-

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Love of t 5

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the Land From the Ashley River Heritage Corridor and beyond, the Conservation League’s reach is wide and winding as we work to protect our natural resources.

An aerial view of the Ashley River, a scenic river beside a scenic highway forming a historic corridor threatened by development pressure.

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LOVE OF THE LAND

Tillers of the Soil, & Soul The Coastal Conservation League has long ties with Mepkin Abbey, a relationship that now plays a role in helping regenerate their land and grow new farmers.

by STEPHANIE HUNT photographs by GATELY WILLIAMS

(From left) Walid Yahgy, Father Joseph Tedesco, and Luke McCusker are working with farmer Jimmy Livingston and Clemson Extension to expand Mepkin’s agriculture program.

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A gentle breeze blows atop the bluff at Mepkin Abbey, one of the highest points on the western fork of the Cooper River. Here grand oaks stand silent, meditative, along Mepkin’s rolling expanse, their old, bowing branches robed in moss. They whisper ancient memories of the Chickasaw and Cusabo Indians who hunted and fished here, and of the enslaved people who grew rice, corn, peas, and indigo on this fertile land, once a 3,000-acre plantation belonging first to the family of Lords Proprietor James Colleton and then to patriot Henry Laurens. When late winter turns to spring, the Henry and Clare Booth Luce Gardens, named for the publishing magnate who later owned this land and in 1949 bequeathed it to the Trappist monks, erupt in a glorious chorus of azaleas, camellias, and tulip magnolia. It is holy land. As is every place of such breathtaking natural beauty.

But in 2002, this place where monks pray and farm, where visitors come to picnic and reflect, was in jeopardy. A major new roadway was proposed to go right through this area, crossing the Cooper River by Mepkin, in order to connect tractor-trailers to the State Port Authority’s planned Global Gateway, a massive new container port on Daniel Island. The truck route would pass through “some of Berkeley County’s most hallowed lands” and “has local leaders and environmentalists on edge,” The Post and Courier reported.

Mepkin’s abbot at the time, Father Francis Kline, joined efforts with then-Conservation League director Dana Beach to fight the Global Gateway and SPA expansion. Thankfully, they prevailed.

Today the land surrounding Mepkin remains rural, and the Abbey retains its essence as a place of contemplative refuge and sanctuary. Nestled by the Francis Marion National Forest as well as a few small farms, this corner of Monck’s Corner, thanks to work by the Conservation League and other partners, is a green buffer that helps keep development in check.

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Just twelve or so miles down the road, the landscape is changing as growth around industrial Cainhoy and North Mount Pleasant creeps up Highway 41, but at Mepkin, time slows. Here the monks practice their centuries-old disciplines of prayer, singing the Psalms, and tending the land. Theirs is a life of simplicity and reverence.

LOVERS OF THE LAND

In keeping with ancient monastic tradition, the brothers follow the Liturgy of the Hours, observe silence, and support their livelihood through agriculture, specifically through mushroom farming. Mepkin’s prized shitake and oyster mushrooms are favorites in local restaurants, and are sometimes available though GrowFood Carolina, a program of the Coastal Conservation League. They are cultivated in high-tech, climate-controlled growing rooms, some of which had housed the Abbey’s chicken farm (prior to switching to mushrooms in 2007, the monks had a profitable egg operation). Meanwhile there are more than 100 acres of farmable fields on the Mepkin property. “We see

The Abbey’s oyster mushrooms, cultivated in specialized indoor growing houses, are prized by local chefs.

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“For 1500 years, monks have been lovers of the land and cultivators of the earth. We want to stay in that business and continue our tradition.”

Andy Hollis

– FAT H E R J O E T E D E S C O

Father Joe overlooks a Mepkin field planted in sea hemp, a nitrogen-enhancing cover crop that will help prep the fields for fall crop planting.

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(Clockwise from top, left to right) Mepkin benefactors Henry and Clare Booth Luce are buried on the property, in the gardens named in their honor; oyster mushrooms growing in their substrate; The Cooper River curls along the shores of Mepkin; figs growing outside the greenhouses; farm manager Jimmy Livingston oversees the agriculture and mushroom programs; GrowFood tomatoes like those from Livingston’s Wabi Sabi Farm and those soon grown at Mepkin.

an opportunity to do more,” says Father Joe Tedesco, who oversees the mushroom farm. “For 1500 years, monks have been lovers of the land and cultivators of the earth. We want to stay in that business and continue our tradition.”

For years, the Mepkin community has had a vegetable garden to provide for their own food needs, but the monks are older now. Their numbers, along with those in monastic communities in general, are dwindling (there are currently 14 Mepkin monks, average age of 77). Just sustaining the mushroom operation is difficult; expanding into growing produce on their own would be impossible.

And that’s where local farmer Jimmy Livingston, GrowFood Carolina’s Anthony Mirisciotta, and the Abbey’s new Institute for Regenerative Agriculture come in.

LEAP OF FAITH

Jimmy Livingston lives and farms at Wabi Sabi Farm, a neighboring property just a few miles up the road from Mepkin and the only other farm is this area. When Jimmy’s screenprinting business succumbed to the 2008 recession, he and his wife Jo took a leap of faith and shifted to farming—a return to their respective family roots. “We both came from food producing and farming families, Joanna from tobacco farmers and me from commercial fishermen and eel farmers, basically whatever you can harvest from the water,” he says. Transitioning from hobby gardening to a commercial farming, however, turned out to be daunting. They started small—planting only a few acres of their 20-acre property—and had good success. But as they grew and diversified their crops, competing against the lower price points of larger scale farms was challenging.

“Your pay does not exponentially go up with exponential growth in farming. You have to work every day as hard as you can work, then in one small storm you can lose everything,” Livingston says. But after partnering with GrowFood Carolina, things changed. He 13

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The Abbey sits high on a serene bluff overlooking what once would have been Mepkin Plantation rice fields.

found a reliable market for Wabi Sabi strawberries, eggplant, kale, and squash.

“The team at GrowFood is committed to the success of small farms, and that’s what we are. They’re our kind of people. They could sell stuff that others wouldn’t take, squash blossoms and borage, for example, and get a good price,” he says. “Sara (Clow, the former director) could move it. Everyone there was equally energetic. They were excited to see what you were growing, and got chefs and restaurants excited about it. They advised us on what would be profitable,” Livingston adds. “GrowFood is the reason we could keep our farm. It was powerful.”

FULL CIRCLE

Meanwhile down the road at Mepkin, Father Tedesco and the monks were planting seeds for a new program that would deepen their ties with the land, grow more produce, and also potentially boost and expand their monastic community. Their proposed Institute for Regenerative Agriculture would be a 10-month residential internship opportunity for those interested in deepening their spiritual life while learning how to farm—“Grow Food and Find Your Center” is the tag line. If they could pull it off, it’d be a win-win—introducing men and women to the monastic way of life while also growing new farmers through a comprehensive, hands-on organic small farming curriculum, with support from Clemson University’s Cooperative Extension program. But they needed an experienced local farmer to help them both with their existing mushroom operation and to launch and manage the new Institute.

So Father Tedesco knocked on Jimmy Livingston’s door. After saying yes, Livingston, in turn, reached out to the team at GrowFood to advise and consult on market opportunities and what the Institute farmers should be growing, just as GrowFood advised and supported him at Wabi Sabi.

“The history and the power of the land up at Mepkin has always spoken to me,” says GrowFood Carolina general manager Anthony Mirisciotta. “We are excited about the Institute for Regenerative Agriculture as a way not only to reinvigorate Mepkin Abbey and the land it’s on, but also to continue to elevate the agricultural scene in South Carolina. It aligns directly with FA L L 2 0 2 0 | C O A S TA L C O N S E R VAT I O N L E A G U E |

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GrowFood’s work to make local food systems more resilient,” says Mirisciotta. He is particularly excited about Mepkin’s opportunity to reintroduce heritage varieties historically tied to monasteries around the world. “That really makes this project special. It’s a great way to tell the Abbey’s story and connect people to the land and what they’re doing up there,” he adds.

SPIRITUALITY OF THE EARTH

Connecting people to the land is at the heart of what Mepkin hopes to do. Eventually a Mepkin Farm Stand will help financially support the program, but it’s not about profit. It’s about “what happens when you get your hands in the dirt,” says Father Tedesco. It’s about how contemplative monastic practices can deepen one’s connection with the land, and how small farms can in turn support more viable local food systems, reconnecting people to fresh food and health. “A spirituality of the earth has a big impact on our life as monks.

Working with the earth and healing the environment rejuvenates you, and the spirituality piece gives a deeper reality to that focus,” he says.

The Institute for Regenerative Agriculture wel-

comed its first intern farmers this July, though Covid-19 has meant an initial group of four rather than the planned six. They’ve been working in fields currently planted in a cover crop of sea hemp, an organic way to boost soil nitrogen levels, and prepping greenhouses for starting fall vegetables from seed.

Hundreds of pounds of Mepkin’s nutrient dense mushroom compost stand at the ready. “The idea of regenerative farming, it’s solid, man. When you come out to this beautiful land and separate from outside influences, when you devote yourself to being more reflective and focus on growing things, which requires attention and dedication, it kind of heals you,” says Livingston.

Knowing that the GrowFood Carolina team is there offering support gives him assurance. “Anthony is nothing but optimistic,” Livingston adds. And optimism goes along way, especially given all the risks in farming. For Mepkin’s monks and for Livingston, it’s an optimism rooted in faith and in a love of the land. “This is a business of hope,” says Livingston, “when you put a seed in the ground, you’re looking to the future.”

A PA N D E M I C P I V O T When restaurants closed, GrowFood found new avenues to distribute fresh, local produce. by ADAM FINDEISEN Charleston’s restaurant scene has an international reputation. And GrowFood Carolina has been a part of that. If you’ve enjoyed a meal from one of the city’s innovative chefs, chances are it included local ingredients that came through GrowFood’s warehouse.

Last year, 70% of GrowFood’s revenues came from restaurant sales. Then the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and that market almost vanished overnight. But GrowFood’s mission didn’t vanish; in fact, connecting local farmers with local communities became more urgent than ever. Farmers needed

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to find new markets for their produce, and the coastal communities where the Conservation League works were gripped by economic crisis and food shortages.

GrowFood’s solution? General manager Anthony Mirisciotta and his team got to work getting food directly to the people who needed it. At first that meant packing food boxes for sale directly from the warehouse. Then participating in state and federal programs and working with local partners like the Lowcountry Food Bank to get food boxes directly to communities and people in need.

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By summer, GrowFood was back to pre-pandemic distribution levels and this work with local communities has become hardwired into the mission. Its new Soil to Sustenance program is on track to get thousands of food boxes a year to people in need, thanks to generous donors. That helps communities stay healthy, enables farmers to plan for the future and stay on their land, and strengthens local food supply chains. This in turn will boost Charleston’s struggling restaurants and help ensure foodies keep coming back for second helpings.

Stay Engaged with Us! The Coastal Conservation League firmly believes that together changes everything. All of us are stronger and more effective when we are fully informed, and all of us are more empowered when we know and feel the support of each other. That’s why we’re pleased to offer ways for all of us who love the land to stay informed and engaged, together.

Tune in to our podcasts.

Yes, podcast! The Conservation League is proud to join the South Carolina Conservation Coalition in producing Public Concern, offering audio fans a deep dive into hot conservation issues, from offshore drilling to updates on rooftop solar to saving Bay Point Island. Find it on your favorite podcast platform.

Join our work for racial justice and equity. The Conservation League’s commitments to racial and environmental justice are deep and longstanding, but we can and will do more.

Current opportunity: add your voice to our advocacy on behalf of the Phillips Community to fight widening of Highway 41 through their community in North Mount Pleasant.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to stay abreast of webinars and Zoom engagement opportunities. @conservationleague (Instagram) @ sccl (Twitter).

Support GrowFood’s Soil to Sustenance Program.

Make a convenient online donation to get healthy, local food to communities in need: http://www.coastalconservationleague.org/ soil-to-sustenance

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LOVE OF THE LAND

Scenic Highway 61 parallels the scenic Ashley River along this historic corridor.

A River (and a Road) Runs Through It Despite a win in protecting Highway 61’s majestic oaks, the Conservation League remains vigilant.

by ADAM FINDEISEN photographs by GATELY WILLIAMS

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“I think people have a false perception that everything is protected out here.”

When Charles Duell, Middleton Place Foundation’s founder and former president, spoke those words years ago, the land along the Ashley River was under siege. The Ashley is a short river—its waters travel barely 30 miles from Berkeley County’s swamps before they empty into Charleston Harbor—but it nourishes exceptionally rich natural, historical, and cultural treasures.

Here centuries-old plantations, ancient oaks, unspoiled vistas, and abundant wildlife give the Ashley River corridor a sense of timelessness. But time, like the Ashley River itself, rolls on, and with it, comes change and development pressure. By 1995, the Ashley River Historic District had the dubious distinction of making the National Trust’s list of the 11 most endangered places.

When the Poplar Grove and Watson Hill developments were proposed for opposite ends of the Ashley River Historic District in 2003 and 2004, the Conservation League and others sounded alarms. These developers had plans to build 10,000 homes and condominiums on some 11,000 acres of land between the two tracts, along with office buildings, schools, and golf courses. New roads and sewer, water, and power lines would be needed to support them.

Even in a region growing accustomed to growth and sprawl, this was too much. Barely a decade before, the Ashley River corridor historic district had been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. A 22-mile section of the Ashley had been declared a scenic river. And Highway 61—the old Ashley River Road, the oldest continuously used road in South Carolina—had been designated a scenic byway. These steps were intended to help protect this corridor’s historic, natural, and cultural resources against development 21

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Timber cleared in parcels along Ashley River Road.

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Like the winding river itself, there have been numerous twists and turns throughout years of the Conservation League’s advocacy to rein in proposed developments.

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There’s no room for complacency when it comes to protecting the things that are most precious. Even after the long fight to preserve the Ashley River corridor, nobody can assume “everything is protected out here.”

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threats, but as the proposed Watson Hill and Poplar Grove plans proved, the area was still vulnerable.

In response to these development plans, the Conservation League dug into grassroots, door-to-door organizing. Coalitions formed, and as Dana and Virginia Beach recount in A Wholly Admirable Thing, their history of the Conservation League’s first 30 years, a new model for conservation and preservation in South Carolina was born.

There were years of twists and turns, ups and downs, political intrigue, backroom maneuvering, and even a long “annexation war,” with cities trying to subvert county development regulations by annexing county land. But in the end, organized public opposition and the hard work of the Coastal Conservation League, Ducks Unlimited, and other groups won the day, successfully protecting 3,000 acres of the proposed Poplar Grove development, and another 10,000 acres in the surrounding area at the same time. The fight over Watson Hill dragged on until the property was foreclosed in the wake of the 2008 economic crash. Finally, in 2017, most of Watson Hill was put under strict development limits—just one unit for every four acres.

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Today, as the Ashley winds along its short, leisurely path to the sea, its banks look much like they have for centuries. Much of Highway 61 is still a magical living tunnel of soaring tree branches draped with Spanish moss. Thousands of acres of old farmland, forest, and wetlands are permanently protected. Dorchester County has created an Ashley River Historic Overlay District to encourage responsible development rather than urban and suburban sprawl.

The story of the Ashley River corridor conveys what can be accomplished when people join together to say enough is enough, and conservation and preservation leaders partner with landowners, government, and the public to shape a vision and come up with creative solutions to turn it into reality.

It’s also a lesson learned: There’s no room for complacency when it comes to protecting the things that are most precious. Even after the long fight to preserve the Ashley River corridor, one can never assume “everything is protected out here.”

Just recently, the Conservation League stepped in to fight for the protection of the corridor again, when South Carolina’s Department of Transportation announced plans to bring statewide safety standards to

The Conservation League’s members spoke out and successfully convinced SCDOT to abandon plans to clear a 25’ buffer, thus protecting Ashley River Road’s iconic tree canopy.

Highway 61—including clearing a strip 25 feet wide on both sides of the old road. Thousands of old growth trees would have been damaged, destroying the iconic canopy that defines the scenic highway.

The community mobilized again to save the trees, and the pressure worked. DOT adopted other safety measures that the Conservation League proposed, like lower speed limits, reflectors, and rumble strips.

In the end, not a single tree was destroyed.

Of course, one step forward can be followed by one step back. Right after the victory to save the canopy, the community woke up to news that trees along the highway in the Watson Hill area were being removed to install sewer and water lines. The community came out in force. The Conservation League took action. The work on the lines stopped. Johnson Development, which tore down the trees, agreed to replant with oaks that will eventually restore the original can-

opy. And political leaders are on track to adopt better land use policies that will be consistent across jurisdictions and ensure this kind of destruction won’t happen again.

And there’s also the ongoing saga of the Whitfield tract, over 2,000 acres of land west of the Ashley that’s been the subject of ongoing litigation and annexation battles for years.

While the Conservation League and our preservation and conservation partners have accomplished a lot over the years, the fight for the permanent preservation of one of America’s most historically significant and one of the Charleston area’s most environmentally important regions is not yet won.

But our work in the Ashley River corridor shows that community activism, resourceful and committed conservation groups, and local, state, and federal agencies willing to do the right thing are a potent combination. Bringing those elements together can create a shared vision, innovative financing, and the will to save what’s important and guide development in a responsible direction.

A direction that flows, like the Ashley River, the way nature intended.

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LOVE OF THE LAND

An ever-shifting barrier island is no place for an “eco-resort,� asserts the Conservation League.

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Miles Sanders

The Point of Bay Point Island Why a coalition including the Conservation League is fighting to protect this sandy scruff of pine.

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At first glance, it’s a skinny scruff of pine. A mere comma of sand and wild maritime forest punctuating Port Royal Sound, marking a pause, as commas do, against this busy waterway. High tide laps against the shore, waves roll under the lone structure—an abandoned fishing hut—on the barrier island. It’s quiet here, desolate. Just salty breeze and the cry of gulls. But on closer look, Bay Point Island is dynamic, ever shifting, and pulsing with life. This life, this natural beauty, is the point of Bay Point Island.

These 229 acres, give or take depending on constant cycles of accretion and erosion, represent one of the last undeveloped islands along the South Carolina coast, which makes it a haven for migrating shorebirds. A place of refuge where people, tourists, and dogs won’t disturb their foraging, their nesting. Here the orange-stockinged American oystercatcher, with its fierce florescent beak, feasts on mollusks at low tide. On populated beaches, their inconspicuous nests can be easily trampled by humans, putting its population at risk and deeming it an “extremely high priority” bird by the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan.

Nearly one-third of the entire population of these blade-beaked marvels winters on the South Carolina coast, with pristine Bay Point being a prime spot.

And consider the intrepid red knot. Small in size but not in fearlessness, this russet-breasted bird (in adult breeding plumage) traverses two entire continents on its annual 18,000-mile migration—one of the longest of any species, and one fueled almost exclusively by horseshoe crab eggs. Their journey from Tierra del Fuego to South Carolina and Delaware Bay then on to the Arctic is impeccably timed, an obedience to some primordial clock, a rhythm ancient and mysterious, which lines up with the mating of horseshoe crabs on a full moon tide, and their subsequent laying of eggs.

Bay Point is a critical resting and fueling spot for red knots, and should either their food source or their 29

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Dover, KohlMiles & Partners Sanders

Sunset over Bay Point Island, where developers propose building 50 villas and various guest amenities as part of an alleged “ecofriendly� resort.

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Bay Point, one of the last undeveloped islands in South Carolina, provides critical habitat for migrating shorebirds and important nesting ground for sea turtles.

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staging grounds be disrupted, their incredible migration could be imperiled.

Along with the American oystercatcher and red knot, Bay Point is home to some 5,000 to 8,000 shorebirds in the winter season, a veritable avian fiesta of piping plover, semi-plamated plover, sanderling, short-billed dowitcher, whimbrel, willet, western sandpiper, Wilson’s plover, and dunlin. According to the Audubon Society, “No other area within miles approaches the holding power of this island and inlet to shorebirds in winter.” It is also important sea turtle nesting habitat, with 107 nests laid last year alone, and the surrounding waterways have long been valuable fishing grounds for the Gullah Geechee residents of neighboring sea islands.

But can Bay Point hold on as a pristine wilderness, refuge, and nursery? That question is a deep concern to the Coastal Conservation League, Audubon,

to be dealt with, and some 33,000 gallons of water per day that will need to be withdrawn from a local aquifer, straining already depleted groundwater resources and exacerbating saltwater intrusion, if the aquifer is even accessible. And this doesn’t account for construction traffic and impact.

The developer, Kentucky-based Luckett and Farley, and management company, Bangkok-based Six Senses, is touting the proposed project as “eco-sensitive,” and thus far, this strategy has swayed Beaufort County planning staff into recommending initial approval for eco-tourism special usage from Beaufort County Zoning Board of Appeals (after a 2016 annexation request to Hilton Head was rejected), explains Smith. “Without that special usage, they cannot build a resort. It’s obvious they are exploiting the special usage as a loophole and greenwashing their resort to appear ‘eco-sensitive,’” Smith says.

Miles Sanders

What the developers fail to realize, however, is that Bay Point Island is already an eco-resort. Albeit one for sea turtles, the valiant red knots, willits, and oystercatchers, and all the other avian residents and guests who got a gate pass from Mother Nature eons ago.

S.C. Environmental Law Project, and to the Gullah/ Geechee Nation, who are challenging an “eco-tourism” resort planned for the tiny island. The developer wants to build 50 bungalow villas, four wellness centers and spas, and entertainment amenities, totaling over 80,000 square feet, on 50 acres of Bay Point’s 60 acres of dry, buildable land. Given the threat of sea level rise, that small spit is in peril even without development. The island currently has no infrastructure of any kind, except for the tideline and the forests—the only infrastructure required for its current inhabitants.

The nearly ten septic systems and solar field currently proposed (alas, insufficient for the development’s needs) would alone have a detrimental environmental impact, according to Juliana Smith, South Coast project manager for the Conservation League. Then there’s the daily 700 pounds of waste

What the developers fail to realize, however, is that Bay Point Island is already an eco-resort. Albeit one for sea turtles, the valiant red knots, willits, and oystercatchers, and all the other avian residents and guests who got a gate pass from Mother Nature eons ago. Six Senses may be hyping it as sustainable, but “what is sustainable is what is already there,” says Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation.

When asked what makes Bay Point unique, she cuts to the chase: “because God made it.”

To Queen Quet and the 24,000 people who have signed a petition to stand with the natives of the Gullah/Geechee Nation in opposition to the project, this “greenwashing” is a cultural affront, as well as an environmental one. “Our Gullah/Geechee culture is inextricably tied to the land and waters of our coast,” Queen Quet says. “Bay Point has historically been fishing ground for my Gullah/Geechee family of St. HeleFA L L 2 0 2 0 | C O A S TA L C O N S E R VAT I O N L E A G U E |

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na Island. It has literally fed us, and been a place that has nurtured us spiritually, as well as nurtured the ecology of our watershed.”

And in her native tongue, she adds, “De Gullah/ Geechee binya een balance wid de land and de wata and we ain gwine nowhey!”

There can be a role for ecotourism, Smith asserts, and points to neighboring St. Phillips Island as a good example of what ecotourism can and should look like.

Once owned by billionaire Ted Turner and now part of the South Carolina State Park system, St. Phillips Island is open to the public for recreation only. A ferry takes a limited number of people at a time to explore the island. “It’s light impact, very sensitive, and does not entail developing anything additionally on the island. In our mind, that’s a good use of ecotourism. Developing an island for profit purposes is not,” Smith says.

As this goes to press, the fate of Bay Point Island is yet to play out. In February 2020, Queen Quet and Leslie Lenhardt of the S.C. Environmental Law Project filed a motion on behalf of the Gullah/Geechee Fishing Association to intervene in the developer’s appeal. The developers have submitted their special use application, and requested a deferral for a Zoning Board of Appeals hearing that was initially scheduled for February, then rescheduled for July. The July hearing was canceled due to Covid-19 concerns.

Meanwhile, public opposition rallied by the Conservation League in tandem with the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition and Gullah/Geechee Fishing Association continues to grow.

At risk is more than Bay Point Island, notes Smith and Jessie White, the Conservation League’s South Coast office director. “Currently Bay Point has the most rural zoning in Beaufort County. If this project is allowed to proceed, it would open up other similarly zoned areas, like St. Helena, to similar proposals and undermine limits on rural development, all under the guise of ecotourism,” White says.

The fight isn’t unlike that over Captain Sams Spit, Smith points out. Both act as barrier islands, and are vulnerable spits of shifting sands near popular tourism destinations. “But they are called barrier islands for a reason—they provide a barrier, a buffer between the ocean, the most powerful force on Earth, and the mainland,” she explains. “Losing a natural barrier island, especially in an age of sea level rise, to alleged ecotourism not only means we lose protection against literal hurricanes and floods, but are also faced with the hurricane, the flood, of potential rampant resort development throughout our rural, coastal places.”

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Paul Nurnburg

For centuries, the livelihood of Gullah Geechee residents of neighboring St. Helena Island has depended on Bay Point’s healthy fishing grounds.

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LOVE OF THE LAND

Toward a Better Seawall Alternative An Army Corps of Engineers proposal doesn’t hold water.

by JASON CROWLEY

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Flooding is a longstanding issue in Charleston, making scenes like this one near White Point Garden commonplace.

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Charleston isn’t just a city on the water. It’s a city of the water—a place intimately tied to its harbor, rivers, and marshes. Water has impacted every aspect of Charleston—her geography, history, and culture, her architecture, food, and economy. While water is the Lowcountry’s lifeblood, it is also the region’s greatest threat. Ever rising sea levels and more serious, more frequent storms have made finding solutions to chronic flooding an urgent priority.

This spring, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed a flooding solution that focused on building a concrete seawall eight miles long encircling the historic peninsula to protect against storm surge. The Coastal Conservation League believes there are more environmentally and culturally sensitive ways to address threats from flooding and sea level rise, and we are partnering with others to fund an alternate design, one that does not wall water out like a hostile enemy but proposes resilient nature-based solutions for “living with water” while protecting against flooding.

AN ENGINEERED LANDSCAPE

The Lowcountry has been fundamentally shaped over millennia by water—by sediment from the eroding Appalachian Mountains slowly making its way down through the Carolinas’ river systems then out towards

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the ocean, and by surge from coastal storms slowly building up sandbars and barrier islands. Before humans began trying to control Mother Nature with groins, jetties, seawalls, and dredging the bottom of our harbors and streams, the Lowcountry’s landscape would shift and transform with each changing season.

Once Europeans began settling the Charleston area, they quickly got to work filling marshes and streambeds to create new land and try to keep water out.

However, nature always finds a way, and the water always returns, flooding streets and neighborhoods.

In the 19th century, Charlestonians constructed seawalls and brick-arched tunnels and laid terracotta pipes to collect and direct stormwater back out to the rivers. In the late 20th century, Charlestonians began tunneling hundreds of feet below our city streets into the marl—our closest semblance of bedrock—to construct massive stormwater tunnels to deal with floodwaters.

After centuries of trying to keep flooding at bay, last year, Charlestonians finally began shifting away from futile efforts to keep water out, and instead took guidance from those with extensive experience at living below sea level—the Dutch—to begin exploring ways to live with water. Two thousand years ago, the Roman author Pliny wrote of present-day Holland, “There, twice in every 24 hours, the ocean’s vast tide sweeps in a flood over a large stretch of land and hides Nature’s everlasting controversy about whether this region belongs to the land or to the sea.” Over the centuries, the Dutch have created natural and human-engineered approaches for controlling flooding while maintaining their connection to the water.

In early 2020, following a year-long public engagement effort known as the Dutch Dialogues, the Charleston City Council adopted this new “living with water” plan that focuses on utilizing natural and nature-based features unique to the Lowcountry landscape to better capture, store, and release tidal and storm water. After five consecutive years of

(Left) An image of a Louisiana seawall gives an idea of what the Army Corps is proposing.

(Right) A map detail from the Army Corps’ report.

major hurricane events and a record breaking 89 days of tidal flooding in 2019 alone, the citizens of Charleston have embraced this new concept of adapting our policies and approach to land use that make water a priority and asset.

However, the Army Corps of Engineers proposal is an abrupt departure from the Dutch Dialogues principles.

The concrete wall it proposes would encircle the Charleston peninsula and be approximately three feet higher than the High Battery seawall. The Army Corps also proposes a building a 4,000-foot breakwater about four feet higher than the seawall in Charleston Harbor.

The seawall would require at least two dozen gates—at road, bicycle and pedestrian, and rail crossings, as well as at the five remaining tidal creeks on the peninsula—that would have to be closed whenever a major tide is expected. At least five pump stations would also need to be constructed to pump water out from behind the wall.

A BETTER WAY

This reliance on major “grey infrastructure” poses a major environmental threat to the remaining marsh that exists around the peninsula. It also poses a human threat if the pumps fail and water gets trapped behind the wall like a bathtub. And despite the fact that Charleston’s flooding is caused by a confluence of heavy rainfall, sea level rise, storm surge, and subsidence flooding, the wall is designed to manage only storm surge. Charleston needs a better way.

The Coastal Conservation League and our partners are engaging Sherwood Design Engineers—a San Francisco-based engineer firm with extensive experience working on nature-based resilience projects around the country—to work with us on developing alternatives to the Corps’ proposal that are more in line with the Dutch Dialogues approach to living with water.

Over the next six months, Sherwood Design Engineers will look at three key locations for the Corps’ proposed seawall, along with the breakwater, to develop alternative designs that better utilize nature-based features. We believe a more environmentally sound approach can provide enhanced resilience against increasingly stronger and more frequent rain and tidal events.

As our sea levels continue to rise, Charleston must adapt if we wish to remain at the point where, as local lore claims, “the Ashley and Cooper Rivers converge to form the Atlantic Ocean.” Our elevation is low, the oceans are rising, and the rain is falling with increasing intensity and frequency. History has taught us that humans cannot work against nature. Now we need to learn how to work with nature in order to adapt to the changing climate and better live with water.

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Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage

PAID

P.O. Box 1765 • Charleston, SC 29402-1765

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Permit No. 168 Charleston, SC

he 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.

Gutter Credit

For more information about the Coastal Conservation League, visit coastalconservationleague.org.

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