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SCDNR News

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C.

Last week, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) was awarded $1.5 million to work with partners and volunteers in the Charleston area to restore seven acres of degraded salt marsh in a historically important area. The project will unfold over four years and use volunteers to plant salt marsh grasses and construct oyster reefs through SCDNR’s South Carolina Oyster Recycling and Enhancement (SCORE) Program.

"We’re ecstatic to receive funding for this project," said Michael Hodges, SCDNR shellfish biologist and lead on the project. "We’re excited that we will get to involve so many volunteers and partners in the project’s implementation. This will be a unique project, using novel, nature-based solutions to restore the degraded tidal marsh in this historically significant part of the Lowcountry."

Granted by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through the National Coastal Resilience Fund, the award is one of eight funded across the country and represents a continuation of federally funded work on Old Towne Creek in West Ashley. Phase one of the project, led by the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT), involved developing engineering and design plans for coastal marshes in West Ashley. A team led by Dr. Joel E. Kostka, Professor and Associate Chair for Research in the Schools of Biological Sciences and Earth & Atmospheric Sciences at GT, will lead post-restoration monitoring and quantify habitat improvements as well as collaborate with SCDNR to train volunteers and citizen scientists. Other partners in this phase of the project will include Robinson Design Engineers and the South Carolina Aquarium.

"This project is a win-win for the Charleston area as it will restore critical wildlife habitat while strengthening the resilience of the coastline to damage from storms and erosion made worse by climate change," said Dr. Kostka. "We at Georgia Tech are excited to participate in the project, in particular to leverage science to develop metrics and improve strategies that will ensure the success of nature-based restoration activities across the U.S."

The restoration site is in what was formerly Maryville, a small town with an important role in Charleston’s history. Chartered and settled in 1886, Maryville was one of the area’s most prominent settlement communities – self-sustaining, all-Black communities that offered the region’s formerly enslaved population safer places to buy land, raise families, and pursue farming or trades in the Jim Crow-era South.

Despite later annexation by the city of Charleston and rapid development of surrounding West Ashley, the area is still known to some locals – including descendants of the town’s founders – as Maryville.

Old Towne Creek is the tidal waterway that connects this area to the nearby Ashley River. In 1670, it saw the first English settlers arrive and establish ‘Charles Towne’ on its banks. Later, the fishermen of Maryville plied its waters for crab, oysters and fish. Today, the creek is popular among kayakers and birdwatchers. But like many urban waterways, Old Towne Creek and its surrounding marshes have degraded over time, particularly after a severe drought in 2012 and another salt marsh dieback event in 2016. Researchers have found that the salt marsh within the project area has not recovered naturally like other areas with similar conditions.

The recent $1.5 million in funding will allow for the restoration and monitoring of seven acres of degraded salt marsh through community-based restoration efforts. Members of the community and the Ashleyville-Maryville Neighborhood Association, who initially noticed that the marsh vegetation was dying back, participated in the initial site assessment and will now be engaged as volunteers in the restoration.

SCDNR biologists have been constructing ‘living shorelines’ – shorelines made of natural materials – for two decades, primarily using recycled oyster shells. These shells attract young oysters, which settle on the hard materials and collectively grow into reef structures that filter waterways, provide habitat for fish and buffer shorelines from erosion.

Please click here to sign up to receive updates about marsh restoration volunteer events.

For additional information, contact: Erin Weeks at (843) 729-3531 WeeksE@dnr.sc.gov

WEST ASHLEY, S.C. (WCSC) - Neighbors in a West Ashley community say they are frustrated and anxious after floodwater crept up to their homes, and a potential solution could be a few years away.

Bennett Barton and Rachel Brunette said Thursday’s rainstorms flooded both the road and their backyards, almost getting into their houses. They said as cars passed by, the wake would go up and slap against their front doors.

“This is my first house; I didn’t know what to expect,” Barton said. “I started panicking. I couldn’t leave to get sandbags or any preventative measures because the road was flooded, too.”

They said as cars passed by, the wake would go up and slap against their front doors.

“At one point, I even got pitchers and just was pouring them into my sink from my screened-in porch,” Barton said. Didn’t do anything, but it made me ease my mind a little bit.”

The Woodlands neighborhood is part of the Dupont Wappoo Watershed, which consists of around 1,000 acres of West Ashley surrounding the Citadel Mall.

The City of Charleston said they are spending $5 million on four out of the 10 scheduled projects to improve downstream water flow under Interstate 526. Once that is done, the city will be increasing the size of pipes and canals near the Woodlands neighborhood to get the water out faster.

“There’s not a lot of elevation change to make that water flow very quickly,” Charleston Director of Stormwater Management Matthew Fountain said, “so those very small ditches don’t work for how much pavement, how many buildings we have in the basin now.”

Brunette said it is not uncommon for her to have to check the weather radar before she leaves for work.

“So, when I’m away for the day, I have to be prepared that whether my windows are open, whether the dog is in or out, and like you said if the vehicle is in the right place in case it does flood,” Brunette said. “There’s been a couple of cars that have been flooded out. The landscaping, you can’t keep decent landscaping. It washes away.”

The city said they are optimistic construction on the projects will start in 2025, but until then, Barton said his anxiety will continue.

“If it had rained for two more hours or it was going into high tide, I think my living room would have been underwater,” Barton said. “Who knows how much that would have cost?”

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CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Several inches of rain fell on Monday across the Lowcountry leaving extensive flooding behind. That led to major problems on roadways and properties taking a toll on drivers, homeowners, and business owners.

The flooding impacts were felt in the City of Charleston, North Charleston, and more.

For one West Ashley family, the flooding and frustration aren’t new.

“It’s constantly getting worse,” said Matt Cody, a resident of Sandcroft Drive in West Ashley.

Photos and videos show major flooding on their street Monday. Matt and his wife, Kelly, say it’s a problem they have been dealing with for over three years.

“The water can’t drain so we have standing water in our backyard constantly,” said Cody. “So, we have mosquitos, flooding, and any time it rains like this, it goes into our house, our garage…”

Cody says there is also water underneath the house that isn’t able to dry out.

The City of Charleston’s Stormwater Management Division has been involved and has completed some of the work that needs to be done to fix the problem including emergency ditch clearing and maintenance, heavy excavation work such as tree stump and root removal, cleaning of the roadside system, and more.

“We had the city come out about a year ago after multiple emails,” said Cody.

There’s a reason the problem isn’t being resolved and it’s a problem that the city says is out of their hands.

“Unfortunately I think what’s still leading to a lot of the flooding is we can only take those cleaning efforts up to the edge of what’s basically called the critical area or the marsh. Once you hit the marsh area, you have to get a separate set of permits,” said Matthew Fountain, Charleston’s Stormwater Management Director.

Those are federal permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state permits from the Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Fountain says it can take years to get those permits because of a struggling permit processing system. However, the city has been working with federal and state agencies to streamline the process.

“The City of Charleston along with many other counties and cities along the entire coastal section of south Carolina have been working for probably the last five and a half years or so with the state, and the last few years with the corps, trying to come up with a more efficient permitting system to be able to address these,” said Fountain.

Over the last few years, some progress on that has been made and Fountain is hopeful that soon the permitting system will take closer to three to six months instead of two years.

He says the Cody’s neighborhood is one on the list that the city plans to hire a consultant to prepare the permit application, go through the permitting process, then, once approved, hire contractors to begin extensive and expensive work to clear out the marsh.

In the meantime, the Cody family is still frustrated by the, sometimes, lakefront property that they didn’t sign up for.

“We have to worry about cars coming through, our cars being flooded,” said Cody. With my four-month-old, if we can’t get out of our house, if emergency vehicles can’t get there, that’s a major issue.”

Fountain says across the city, several projects are underway that will significantly improve flooding.

In the City of North Charleston, major flooding was also seen on Monday. A spokesperson for the city says anytime there is heavy rainfall in a short amount of time, the drainage system can become overwhelmed but, in yesterday’s case, the water cleared out within a few hours.

New Ashley Ridge tennis coach Scott Nichols wasn’t sure what to expect from the Lady Swamp Foxes at the beginning of this season.

Ashley Ridge has seen some of its girls’ tennis teams really shine but last spring lost strong athletes to graduation. With a sport like tennis it can be hard to predict which underclassmen will return and having a new coach makes such forecasting even more difficult. With a few matches now in the books, Nichols is optimistic.

“We had a good group show up for tryouts,” Nichols said. “Some of them played last year and others didn’t so we are still working on exactly where everyone will fit. We have players learning about doubles play and working on positioning. We are young but striving to exceed expectations.”

Senior Elena Stopar is the current No. 1 Singles player. Three of the four remaining singles spots have been consistently filled by freshman Rolyns Hadley, junior Anna Dale and senior Madison Pastor. Other members of the team who are competing for the remaining starting Singles spot and two Doubles spots are seniors Monica Duffy and Caitlyn Pastor, juniors Catherine McCoy, Cali Mae Rice and Elisa Rice, and freshmen Allison Wilson and Kalynn Windon.

“They all have a great attitude, good attention to detail and good team support,” Nichols said. “We are really just beginning region play but we are hoping we can compete well against all those teams.”

Ashley Ridge is out to a 2-4 start with 4-2 wins over Stratford and region-foe Fort Dorchester. The Lady Swamp Foxes were defeated by Wando, Berkeley and region foe West Ashley. Berkeley beat Ashley Ridge twice.

“The West Ashley match was exciting, but we lost,” Nichols said. “It was 3-3 entering No. 1 Doubles and we fell a little short so we are hoping we can beat them at our place by a large enough margin to claim a tie-breaker over West Ashley.”

Completion of improvements to the Ashley Ridge tennis courts was set behind schedule because of inclement weather so the Swamp Foxes have yet to host a match this season. However, improvements are now complete. The home opener for Ashley Ridge is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 29 when the Swamp Foxes will take on Fort Dorchester.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Week 2 of high school football kicks off on Thursday. Check back here for scores, highlights and more!

9/3

Grayson 28, Ft. Dorchester 0 - At C1N Showcase in Atlanta: Patriots get shutout on the road 1-1

9/2

Summerville 38, Berkeley 6 - Live 5 Game of the Week: Green Wave move to 2-0, Stags drop to 1-2

Sumter 31, Goose Creek 14 - Gators drop second in a row 0-2

Wando 34, Stall 0 - Warriors are back even on the season 1-1, Warriors still winless 0-2

West Ashley 6, Cane Bay 3 - Wildcats stay undefeated 3-0, Cobras fall to 1-1

Lexington 28, Stratford 14 - Knights drop first game 0-1

Ashley Ridge 23, Conway 7 - Swamp Foxes split their first two games 1-1

White Knoll 35, Colleton County 14 - Cougars fall to 1-2

Beckham 34, Bishop England 7- Bengals stay undefeated 3-0, Battling Bishops drop to 1-2

James Island 53, First Baptist 6 - Trojans jump to 3-0, Hurricanes split first two games 1-1

Philip Simmons 45, Georgetown 15 - Iron Horses jump to 2-1

Woodland 50, Bluffton 31 - Wolverines win second straight 2-0

Oceanside Collegiate 28, Carolina Forest 24 - Landsharks improve to 2-1

Academic Magnet 27, Burke 6 - Raptors start season 2-0, Bulldogs drop to 0-2

Military Magnet 24, Palmetto Christian 16 - Eagles get in the win column 1-2, Eagles start campaign 0-2

Denmark-Olar 47, St. John’s 7 - Islanders still winless on the year 0-3

Cross 14, Timberland 6 - Trojans now 2-1 on the season, Wolves take third straight loss 0-3

Porter-Gaud 41, Camden Military Academy 6 - Porter-Gaud improves to 2-1

Ben Lippen 30, Pinewood Prep 27 - Pinewood Prep can’t get in the win column this week 0-3

Thomas Heyward at Northwood Academy (0-2)

Colleton Prep 53, Branchville 22 - Colleton Prep starts year 2-0

Dorchester Academy 42, Conway Christian 20 - Dorchester Academy jumps to 3-0

St. John’s Christian 14, Calhoun Academy 8 - St. John’s Christian moves to 2-1

9/1

Baptist Hill 18, North Charleston 14 - The Bobcats improve to 2-0 on the season while the Cougars drop to 1-2

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