News Archives 2005  May  Sept  Dec

February 2005 Topics     current topics

• South Carolina Environmental Awareness Awards
• Thousands turn out to clean S.C. coast
• Building a new tool to monitor marine health
• Coastal Heritage wins awards
• Restoring sweetgrass to the South Carolina Lowcountry
• “Doin’ the Dunes!” repairs valuable sand barriers
• Oyster restoration program “scores” national awards

South Carolina Environmental Awareness Awards

The state of South Carolina is seeking nominations for an award to recognize individuals doing extraordinary work for the environment.

The S.C. Environmental Awareness Award recognizes outstanding contributions made toward the protection, conservation, and improvement of South Carolina’s natural resources.

Each year, the public is invited to submit nominations that are then reviewed by an awards committee made up of representatives from the state’s natural-resource agencies. In judging nominees, the committee considers excellence in innovation, leadership, and accomplishments that influence positive changes affecting the environment.

Nominations will be accepted through Dec. 31, 2004. Nomination form available in PDF format, or call Linda Blackwell, S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, (843) 953-2078.

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Thousands turn out to clean S.C. coast

Hurricane Ivan came through South Carolina the day before Beach Sweep/River Sweep, but by Saturday morning it was gone, leaving clear blue skies and nice temps—perfect weather for a cleanup!

An estimated 4,600 volunteers on the coast—a near-record turnout—cleared trash from beaches, marshes, and waterways. Over 100 site captains and their volunteers covered about 75 cleanup sites, from Little River to Daufuskie Island. Community involvement during the event was fantastic, with support from Girl and Boy Scouts, K-12 schools and colleges, environmental and civic groups, museums, aquaria, municipalities, state and federal agencies, resorts, and businesses. Due to high river stages and flooding, the inland portion of the Sweep was rescheduled for October 16.

Beach Sweep/River Sweep, part of The Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, is organized by the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium and S.C. Department of Natural Resources. Major sponsors for 2004 included BP Cooper River Plant, Ben & Jerry’s of Charleston, Carolina Ice Palace, Cisco’s Café, Coastal Expeditions, Drayton Hall, Duke Power, Hilex Poly Co., Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Marine Terminals of S.C., Middleton Place Plantation, Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company, S.C. State Ports Authority, Santee Cooper, Sunfire Grill & Bistro, The Ocean Conservancy, and Universal Data Solutions.

The next Sweep is scheduled for Saturday, September 17, 2005. Detailed coastal results and photos can be found at http://www.scseagrant.org under the Education section.

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Building a new tool to monitor marine health

Sophisticated new tools could soon help resource managers assess of the impacts of chemical contaminants on the marine environment.

Chemical contaminants threaten species survival and are powerful forces in species’ genetic selection. One way to document these impacts is to examine the life cycles of small, benthic creatures called meiofauna. Living in sediments, these species come in close contact with high levels of toxicants. Sea Grant researchers are studying how toxic compounds affect these estuarine animals in sublethal ways.

The newly approved and highly toxic pesticide fipronil is being used on golf courses and other areas adjacent to estuarine systems in South Carolina. Sea Grant researcher Thomas Chandler, an ecotoxicologist at the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health and his team of USC researchers—John Ferry, Bruce C. Coull, Joseph Quattro and Joseph Staton—are studying fipronil-induced dysfunction in the marine copepod Amphiascus tenuiremis, and carrying out breeding experiments to test for heritability of pesticide resistance.

A. tenuiremis is unusual in that it is the only sexually-reproducing marine animal that can be completely cultured in the laboratory in only 200 microliters of seawater over numerous generations, and serves as an excellent model to study effects of toxins on their reproduction. Toxicity can also be studied during each life stage: egg production, hatching, larval growth and survival, and adult reproductive success.

The international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Environment, Health, and Safety Division (effectively the global EPA for industrialized countries) and the European Union have shown interest in using this cultured species as an estuarine “canary” to assess the health of estuarine systems.

In the United States, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has just approved this copepod for testing in support of environmental regulation. The next step could be adoption by EPA.

“Since ASTM conducts the most rigorous reviews of test methods in the United States,” says Chandler, “these methods hold up very well in court, which is useful to EPA and industry. The usual process for EPA adoption of a new environmental test is to wait for ASTM approval first. Then, if EPA decides the method is useful within its regulatory mission for risk assessment of chemicals in the environment, it often follows with an adoption of the method.”

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Coastal Heritage wins awards

Coastal Heritage, the quarterly magazine published by the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, won two awards in 2004.

The magazine retained an Apex Award of Excellence in the Technical Writing category. The Apex Awards are sponsored by Communications Concepts, Inc.

Coastal Heritage also won an Award of Special Merit in Other Magazines category in the CASE (Council for the Advancement and Support of Education) District III competition.

The magazine is edited by John Tibbetts and art directed by Patty Snow, covering issues of coastal and marine-resource policy, science, and history. For a free subscription, contact the Consortium office at (843) 953-2078.

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Restoring sweetgrass to the South Carolina Lowcountry

Sprawling development has sharply limited access to native sweetgrass, which has hindered basket making by the Gullah community around the Charleston area.

In 2002, the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station and the College of Charleston, with funding from the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, began studying how to help basket makers find solutions for the scarcity of the native coastal plant. Their findings are covered in a recent article in the journal Economic Botany.

Marianne Burke, a Forest Service ecologist, Angela Halfacre, a political scientist at the College of Charleston, and Zachary Hart, then a graduate student at the college, interviewed 23 Gullah basket makers between June 2002 and January 2003. Tapes of the interviews were transcribed and then analyzed to identify common views and practices to inform a long-term management plan for sweetgrass.

Gullah people have made sweetgrass baskets for almost three centuries in the lowcountry. Men originally practiced this kind of basket making, but women took over the craft in the 1920s, when many of the men left the area to serve in the military or look for jobs.

In recent years, the growth of gated communities and other developments along the coast has limited basketmakers’ access to sweetgrass.

Basketmakers, researchers learned, support several different alternatives for managing sweetgrass. One proposed solution was to set aside land dedicated specifically to growing sweetgrass. The ownership of the land was less important than access to property where sweetgrass grows. Basketmakers suggestions for cultivation alternatives ranged from a “farm” that grows it to individual home cultivation. Basketmakers also expressed a need for public education about cultivating and maintaining sweetgrass.

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“Doin’ the Dunes!” repairs valuable sand barriers

On Sept. 11, a volunteer project called “Doin’ the Dunes!” enhanced 1,000 linear feet of existing dunes on the Isle of Palms.

The one-day pilot project was organized by Dunes Properties, staffed by a corps of volunteers, and partially funded by the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, with additional support from a number of sponsors.

The day began with a volunteer training session and an informative discussion on the importance of conservation efforts. Volunteers constructed dune fences and planted vegetation.

Project organizers used a combination of turtle-friendly fencing designs, including traditional 20-foot V-shaped sections, 10-foot straight sections angled towards prevailing winds, and the planting of dune vegetation in lieu of fencing in certain areas.

“We plan to make “Doin’ the Dunes!” a model project for other communities interested in becoming involved in dune restoration and enhancement programs along the South Carolina coast,” says April Turner, coastal communities specialist with the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium.

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Oyster restoration program “scores” national awards

The South Carolina Oyster Restoration and Enhancement program (SCORE) recently received two prestigious national awards for 2004: the Coastal America Partnership Award and the Theodore M. Sperry Award. SCORE, a volunteer-driven oyster habitat restoration program, is directed by Loren Coen and managed by Nancy Hadley, both of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) Marine Resources Research Institute.

The Coastal America Partnership Award recognizes the SCORE program’s efforts to leverage skills and resources of federal, state, and local partners to restore critical oyster habitat.

The Theodore M. Sperry Award, sponsored by the Society for Ecological Restoration International, acknowledges the SCORE program’s innovative approaches to oyster habitat restoration.

The SCORE program has built 98 new oyster reefs at 28 sites along the South Carolina coast since its inception in 2000. SCORE staff and volunteers also assess reef development, research and develop new approaches to reef construction, and monitor water quality at restored sites. A complementary SCDNR Oyster Shell Recycling Program encourages the public to contribute to oyster habitat restoration by dropping off oyster shells at any of 12 sites on the coast.

In addition to the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, SCORE funding partners include the NOAA Community-based Restoration Program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, S.C. Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association, and the Hilton Head Island Foundation. The program also collaborates with nearly 50 community partners and schools.

To learn more about SCORE, visit the Web site http://www3.csc.noaa.gov/scoysters

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