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Stories in South Carolina

Strengthening South Carolina’s Lowcountry

Aerial view of the Chelsea Plantation water frontage.

Land acquisitions and living shorelines boost resilience in our communities.

January 06, 2025

South Carolina’s Salt Marshes The Chelsea Plantation waterfrontage acts as a critical saltwater marsh migration corridor that will help the area adapt to future ecosystem changes. © Holstein Appraisals

Today, climate change throws life-threatening, non-stop challenges at us. But the situation isn’t hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

When we grow our connections with the people and nature around us, we become more resilient than ever. By protecting and restoring natural habitats, communities can adapt to and mitigate the impacts of coastal hazards, all the while supporting important plants and wildlife.

How can nature protect our communities from climate change?

TNC in South Carolina is taking a multi-faceted approach to strengthening our communities in the face of rising seas and stronger storms. This includes both protecting remaining Lowcountry properties from development and harnessing the power of nature to strengthen shorelines.

Living Shorelines TNC is studying the use of Oyster Castles as building blocks for reefs in the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, South Carolina. © Sarah Hartman/TNC
Wetlands of the Chechessee Lands conserved within the Chelsea Plantation property protect the water quality in Port Royal Sound. © Holstein Appraisals
Protecting coastal properties Aerial view of the Gregorie Neck homesite on the Tulifinny River. © Holcombe, Fair and Lane.
Recreation Fishing in South Carolina is a beloved pastime, offering abundant opportunities to catch a variety of fish in its scenic lakes, rivers and coastal waters. © Jed Owen/Unsplash
Map with green property boundaries and winding blue creek.
Chelsea Plantation A map features the 2,700-acre Chelsea Plantation property, one of the largest undeveloped waterfront properties in coastal South Carolina. © TNC

Conserving Land

Saving Chelsea Plantation

Jasper County, SC, is the third fastest growing county in the nation. With this growth comes rapid development. But as nearby residents experienced the loss of their stunning salt marshes and wild lands, they mobilized to save the 2,700-acre Chelsea Plantation.

Groups like Keep Chelsea Rural went door-to-door with flyers against developing the property and even put up billboards in support of their rural community. Then, TNC’s incredible donors stepped up to help fund this acquisition.

This 2,700-acre property secures more than seven miles of frontage along Hazzard Creek, which drains into the Broad River and is part of Port Royal Sound watershed.

Chelsea’s fate was one of this region’s major tipping points for the future of its wildlife habitat, historical character and water quality...We weren’t willing to leave it to chance.
Dale Threatt-Taylor, Executive Director, The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina
Aerial view of meandering streams in a large wetland.
ACE Basin Twisting streams on Otter Island, a coastal wetland area, supporting many fish species and helping shelter coastal communities from storms. © Tom Blagden

Creating a Corridor

TNC in South Carolina is working with partners to expand an existing corridor between the Ashepoo-Combahee-Edisto River Basin (ACE Basin) and protected properties along the Savannah River on the Georgia border. The protection of the Chelsea, Gregorie Neck and Buckfield properties is part of a yearslong partner effort to protect remaining Lowcountry lands and equip communities for future ecosystem changes.

Map with green property boundaries and winding blue creek.
Gregorie Neck and Buckfield properties A map of the 4,400-acre Gregorie Neck property, which represents one of the largest undeveloped waterfront properties in coastal South Carolina. © The Nature Conservancy

Saving Gregorie Neck

The 4,400-acre Gregorie Neck property is flanked by deep water access on the Coosawhatchie and Tulifiny Rivers and bisected by Interstate 95, making it a highly sought out site for development. But, to preserve the region’s nature and wildlife, TNC purchased the property and will be permanently protecting it with a conservation easement through the Open Space Trust. The property was divided into several parcels and available for sale to conservation buyers—and forever protected with perpetual conservation easements.

Saving Buckfield

Buckfield protects more than 7,300 acres in coastal South Carolina’s Hampton and Jasper counties. The property links ecologically significant landscapes to create a 12,000-acre stretch of protected land in this fast-growing region. TNC acquired 3,654 acres, marking a bold first step in the permanent protection of Buckfield, while Open Space Institute acquired the remaining 3,672 acres to join its previously secured 5,000-acre Slater property. These lands were purchased by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) and became the Coosawhatchie Heritage Preserve and Wildlife Management Area.

Lowcountry Land Acquisitions

Hazzard Creek The creek winds through salt marshes as it flows to the Port Royal Sound. © Holstein Appraisals
Buckfield This longleaf pine stand is an ideal example of a forest that has been treated with controlled burning. © Paul Nurnberg
Buckfield Becomes WMA A new sign for the Coosawatchie Heritage Preserve and Wildlife Management Area at the September 2024 opening. © Shellie Murdaugh/ Jasper County Sun Times
Chelsea Plantation TNC protected 2,737 acres in the South Carolina Lowcountry. © Holstein Appraisals
Gregorie Neck Live oaks at Gregorie Neck in Jasper County, South Carolina. © Holcombe, Fair and Lane.
Coastline with stacks of gray concrete blocks.
Oyster Castles® Oyster Castles® are interlocking, concrete blocks that are installed along a shoreline with bags of clam and oyster shells. These hard structures can withstand wave energy while also giving baby oysters—called spat—a place to land, grow and spawn. Over time, the castles create a foundation for oyster shells to populate and thus restore their reef. © Susanna Hopkins/TNC

 

Restoring Coastlines

Living Shorelines Volunteers Strengthen South Carolina Shores

The same natural features that give us great fishing and recreation can also stabilize our shores.

Oyster reefs not only play a part in keeping water at bay, but also keep sand in. In addition to reducing or reversing erosion by trapping sediment, oyster reefs have many benefits:

  • Keep Water Clean—One grown oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day.
  • Provide Wildlife Habitat—You’ll notice that the best fishing is around healthy oyster reefs and marshes.
  • Absorb Wave Energy—Living shorelines absorb wave energy, slowing waves down as they crash into natural materials, oyster shells and marsh grasses.

TNC South Carolina is restoring oyster reefs as a barrier against rising sea levels and stronger storms. Known as living shorelines, green infrastructure projects like restoring oyster reefs give coastal communities a chance to heal themselves—naturally.

The same area of marsh land with healthy, established grasses and no flooding.
An area of marsh land flooded by the erosion of boats and heavy waves alongside the shore of the ocean.
Goldbug Island Living Shoreline The Nature Conservancy transformed Goldbug Island from an area that was eroding from heavy wave and boat activity to a stabilized shoreline that supports healthy marsh grass and multiple size classes of thriving oysters. © Cara Chancellor/TNC

Make an Impact in South Carolina

When you give to The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina, you help protect our lands and waters for generations to come.

Give Now

TNC Is Scaling Up Impact to Create Healthy Coasts

In July 2023, The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina was awarded $6.8 million from NOAA’s Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience Grant. The funds will support a four-year project to implement a program titled Transforming the Scale and Equity of Living Shorelines in South Carolina.

The program consists of three tasks:

  1. Install a 2,000-foot Oyster Castle® living shoreline reef with the Department of Defense (DoD) along the Broad River adjacent to the Laurel Bay housing community for the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) in Beaufort, SC.
  2. Conduct a stakeholder-driven process known as the Community Assistance Program to install and monitor one acre of living shoreline projects in underserved communities in South Carolina.
  3. Develop a Nature-Based Coastal Resilience Implementation Plan through a stakeholder process that identifies multi-acre projects that TNC and partners can implement over the next 10 years.

Hardening Shorelines Near Military Housing

The Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort recognizes the close interconnectivity of their resilience and adaptive capacity within this tri-command area. TNC has partnered with the base to boost resilience, as well as to promote activities outside their direct vicinity to reduce vulnerabilities to climate change, protect critical infrastructure and help

Bright green grass flanks a gray concrete wall, protecting the sand from the ocean.
Concrete blocks interlock to create a wall, dividing ocean and shoreline.
Two men pass a concrete block to each other. Both wear sunglasses.
Three men move concrete blocks down a table.
A smiling bearded man passes a concrete block to a woman with a blue 4Oceans hat.
Bright green grass flanks a gray concrete wall, protecting the sand from the ocean.

Completed oyster restoration: A completed living shoreline, comprised of Oyster Castle pieces, along coast of Laurel Bay at Marine Corps Air Station, Beaufort SC. © Nichole Pehl/TNC

Concrete blocks interlock to create a wall, dividing ocean and shoreline.

Oyster castles, Beaufort SC: Oyster Castles® are interlocking, concrete blocks that are installed along a shoreline with bags of clam and oyster shells. © Nichole Pehl/TNC

Two men pass a concrete block to each other. Both wear sunglasses.

Living shoreline build, SC: 2025 Volunteers help restore an oyster reef at Marine Corp Airforce Base, Beaufort County, SC © Kyle Baskin

Three men move concrete blocks down a table.

Kyle Baskin: Volunteers help restore an oyster reef at Marine Corp Airforce Base, Beaufort County, SC. © Kyle Baskin

A smiling bearded man passes a concrete block to a woman with a blue 4Oceans hat.

Living shoreline build, SC: 2025 Volunteers help restore an oyster reef at Marine Corp Airforce Base, Beaufort County, SC © Kyle Baskin

Volunteers, conservation organizations and government entities have worked for 20 years building living shorelines one bag and one block at a time. Those efforts are making a real difference, but we need to significantly scale up our work to keep pace with more intense storms and rising sea levels.
Dale Threatt-Taylor, Executive Director, The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina

Collaborating for Resilience

Safeguarding One Million Acres of Marsh

The South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative is a collaborative partnership to enhance the long-term abundance, health and resilience of the approximately 1 million acres of salt marshes within the South Atlantic states.

The Nature Conservancy leads South Carolina's implementation team, joining the following partners to create a state-specific plan — a pathway to protection, restoration and marsh migration.

  • Audubon South Carolina

  • Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition

  • Manomet Conservation Sciences

  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

  • The Pew Charitable Trusts

  • South Carolina Department of Natural Resources SCIT Steering Committee Organizations

  • South Carolina Environmental Law Project

Jeremy Island oyster castles South Carolina.
SASMI Executive Summary Jeremy Island oyster castles South Carolina © Clay Bolt
A volunteer measures oysters at a reef built on Goldbug Island.
Goldbug Island A volunteer measures oysters at a reef built on Goldbug Island. © Andrea Margiotta

Collaboration Promotes Nature-Based Solutions

The Nature-Based Exchange aims to foster the widespread and practical application of natural and nature-based solutions (NNBS) throughout South Carolina to address climate change, biodiversity loss, water management and social inequalities. A collaborative effort led by The Nature Conservancy, the initiative focuses on promoting equity, community engagement and environmental resilience to increase NNBS awareness, access and development.

These connections make land protection possible. Together, we go much farther, faster than we could alone. As we work to strengthen South Carolina in the face of climate change—including saving lands from development and stabilizing eroding coasts—we must work as a community, for our communities.