Akshit Suthar, Ph.D. student and graduate research assistant at Clemson University, demonstrates the operation of a trunk gate in the managed impoundments of Nemours Wildlife Foundation. Photo credit: Hailey Murphy/S.C. Sea Grant Consortium.
What is the best use case for South Carolina’s historic rice fields, and how can land managers plan for the future?
Long recognized as a vital habitat for wildlife and fisheries, including migratory waterfowl and endangered species, S.C.’s managed antebellum rice fields, or impoundments also increase the coast’s resilience to sea level rise and the accelerated magnitude and frequency of storms. With many of S.C.’s coastal zones experiencing sea level rise, land subsidence (gradual sinking), flooding, and increased salinity, rice field management and restoration have become prohibitively expensive for landowners.
This is the focus of a Consortium-funded research project entitled “Envisioning the Future of South Carolina’s Antebellum Rice Fields: Development of a Decision Support Tool” led by Principal Investigator James T. Anderson, Ph.D., and Graduate Research Assistant and Ph.D. student Oluwatobi (Tobi) Emmanuel Olaniyi of the James C. Kennedy Waterfowl and Wetlands Conservation Center at Clemson University.
Akshit and Nemours’ Wildlife Biologist Beau Bauer conduct drone surveys of waterfowl use of managed impoundments and unmanaged impoundments that have reverted to salt marsh. Photo credit: Hailey Murphy/S.C. Sea Grant Consortium.
Co-Principal Investigators include:
- Robert Baldwin, Ph.D., Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation, Clemson University.
- Andrew Bridges, Ph.D., Nemours Wildlife Foundation.
- Troy Farmer, Ph.D., Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation, Clemson University.
- Travis Folk, Ph.D., Folk Land Management.
- Daniel Hanks, Ph.D., Weyerhaeuser Company.
- Marilyn Hemingway, Gullah Geechee Chamber of Commerce and the Gullah Geechee Foundation.
- Thomas O’Halloran, Ph.D., Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, Clemson University.
- Crystal J. Anderson, James C. Kennedy Waterfowl and Wetlands Conservation Center, Clemson University.
This project is supported by partnerships with Nemours Wildlife Foundation; Clemson University’s James C. Kennedy Waterfowl and Wetlands Conservation Center; Clemson University’s College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences; the Andy Quattlebaum and Blackwell Family Foundation; Ducks Unlimited; Folk Land Management; Weyerhaeuser Company; the Gullah Geechee Chamber of Commerce; and the Gullah Geechee Foundation.
Throughout the two-year project timeline (2024-2026), researchers will compile and analyze data from breached and intact tidal rice fields; assess the methodologies, successes, and failures of restored rice field projects; collect and analyze community input, historical knowledge, and desired future endpoints for rice field infrastructure preservation; generate a decision-support system that addresses the ecological and societal costs and benefits associated with abandoning these historic rice field impoundments versus maintaining them; and identify research and data gaps to develop a long-term research agenda focused on the socio-ecological conservation and ecosystem services of rice fields.
Birds-eye view of blue-winged teal (Spatula discors; syn=Anas discors) in Middle Field, a managed impoundment at Nemours Wildlife Foundation. Photo credit: Akshit Suthar/Clemson University.
So far, the project team has utilized drones to survey waterfowl activity at 40 sites including 17 managed, 14 unmanaged, and nine inland rice field impoundments; held four community charettes within the coastal communities of Bucksport, Pawleys Island, Charleston, and Beaufort; and compiled 32 socio-ecological datasets from 16 sources, incorporating 11 environmental, social, and economic criteria to create a decision support tool for waterfowl and historic rice field management along South Carolina’s coast.
Out of 41 available published datasets, 27 were selected and compiled from four distinct databases for systematic review. The team has also designed a rapid field-based assessment tool to determine the existing management operations and their impact on restored rice field projects. The team hypothesizes that under appropriate conditions, the ecological and social benefits of maintaining rice fields as managed brackish impoundments will outweigh the potential advantages of allowing them to revert to salt marsh.
Learn more about this and other current Consortium-funded research projects.
For more information, contact James T. Anderson, Ph.D., Director and Endowed Chair at the James C. Kennedy Waterfowl and Wetlands Conservation Center, Clemson University.