The Nature Conservancy Purchases Jeremy Island, Expands Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge

Conservancy acquires major tract within one of the largest contiguous stretches of protected coastline on the East Coast

Charleston, SC—December 23, 2004—This week, The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina announced it has acquired Jeremy Island near McClellanville, S.C. for inclusion in the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge for $794,000. The Conservancy purchased the 1,018-acre island from the heirs of Andrew Hibben Dupre and James Hamlin Dupre, whose family has owned the island for nearly 100 years.

“Jeremy Island provides an important ecological link to existing refuge islands and estuarine wetlands for the nearby Santee Coastal Reserve,” said Michael Prevost, Sewee to Santee project director for The Nature Conservancy. “Due to the long-term vision of the Dupre family and support from our partners who share an interest in protecting South Carolina’s coast, Jeremy Island will retain its natural character for generations to come.”

The largest remaining in-holding within the 64,000 acre Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, Jeremy Island has become an important stopover point for migratory birds due to the long-term stewardship by the Dupre family and their strong interest in ensuring the island’s permanent protection as part of the refuge.

“We have many wonderful family memories of Jeremy Island and are very pleased that it will be added to the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge,” said James H. Dupre, Jr. “Jeremy Island was dearly loved by our father, the late James H. Dupre, and we feel he would be especially pleased. We are grateful to The Nature Conservancy for their steadfast patience, hard work and commitment to the preservation of the island.”

The protection of Jeremy Island represents a unique collaboration involving the Conservancy, the Dupre family, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The Conservancy purchased Jeremy Island with funds provided by a private bequest to protect the South Carolina coast, donated by Miss Sally Reahard in 2003. The island will be resold to the USFWS for inclusion in the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge using Land and Water Conservation Funds secured by Senator Ernest F. Hollings.

“The addition of Jeremy Island to the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge is extremely beneficial to our nation’s migratory bird populations,” said Donny Browning, USFWS Project Leader for Coastal South Carolina refuges. “We commend The Nature Conservancy’s dedicated work and commitment to making this important addition to Cape Romain Refuge possible.”

About Jeremy Island
The 1,018-acre island is surrounded by the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge on the north, south and east, and by the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway on the west. Jeremy Island’s tidal marshes, inter-tidal mud flats and oyster banks provide quality habitat for high priority species such as the American oystercatcher, whimbrel and marbled godwit. It comprises approximately 83 acres of uplands (dominated by maritime forest) and 935 acres of tidal salt marsh.

Located within the Conservancy’s Sewee to Santee Project Area, the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge is a designated Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve, providing critical habitat to thousands of migratory shorebirds in the Atlantic Flyway annually. The entire coastal region of the Sewee to Santee site – encompassing some 35 miles of protected barrier islands and associated tidal marshes, including the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, Santee Coastal Reserve & the Yawkey Wildlife Center – is incredibly important to wetland dependent birds and estuarine resources on a national scale.