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PORT ROYAL — In the fight against coastal erosion, conservationists and government entities are joining forces. Their main method of defense: a whole lot of oyster shells. With fanfare and gusto, representatives from several organizations gathered on a floating dock in Port Royal's Safe Harbor Marina on Oct.
8 to announce a plan to save Parris Island from significant erosion. The island is home to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, a major historic military installation that trains enlisted U.S.
Marines. A number of entities will work together to create oyster-based living shorelines along more than 8,000 feet of shoreline on the eastern side of Parris Island. The project is funded by a $5.
43 million grant from the Military Enhancement Fund and will be led in part by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, Coastal Carolina University, the Marine Depot, the Town of Port Royal and environmental non-profit Global Eco Adventures.
DOD supports land conservation around local military bases, 'We love flying over farmland.' Living shorelines refer to a shoreline that has been supplemented with vegetation, oysters or other living materials for two primary benefits: to increase habitat and to reduce erosion, said Robert Boyles, director of the S.C.
Department of Natural Resources Resiliency Efforts. The manmade oyster beds work by absorbing energy from boat wakes or tides, while sea walls only deflect the energy and redirect it farther downstream. Oysters are also natural cleaners, they filter the water, improving the quality of water and marsh habitat.
Oyster Cage The idea of using oyster beds to combat an increasingly volatile coastline isn't new. Volunteers, environmental organizations and government entities have for two decades built living shorelines along the South Carolina coast. Today's Top Headlines Story continues below SC sheriff who disparaged federal relief efforts now promises to 'hunt down' people who hinder FEMA This historic Black neighborhood is surrounded by Myrtle Beach but not part of the city.
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We met the South Carolina man behind the world's hottest peppers – and then we tried one Mold-resistant and sustainable: ‘Hemp homes’ could be future of affordable housing in SC Alex Murdaugh settles lawsuit related to fatal 2019 boat crash, ending case Earlier this year, The Nature Conservancy of South Carolina and the Marine Corps slogged through the mud along the marshy edge of the Beaufort River to build 2,000 feet of artificial oyster reefs at the edge of Laurel Bay, a military community. That project was made possible by a $6.8 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded to The Nature Conservancy in the spring of 2023.
In 2022, another local oyster reef project was constructed by the Coastal Conservation League near Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. It took a different approach, creating a manufactured wire reef, which is built using wire cages that have oyster shells woven into the exterior of the cages. Marines tackle a shoreline mission: Volunteers work to restore habitat, protect housing "Living shorelines are not a cure all to all of our coastal threats," Boyles said, "but they allow for community engagement and they allow for a natural process that existed on our coast to continue as normal in the face of global climate change.
" Along the Parris Island coast, the living shoreline project will include the placement of spare concrete traffic barriers from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, as well as the study of manmade structures already placed along the island. The project is a significant one for South Carolina, which contributes greatly to the U.S.
Armed Forces and national security, said Maj. Gen. William Grimsley, former secretary of the state Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
"Right here in Beaufort, we make Marines," Grimsley said. "We also provide trained and lethal marine aviation to the joint force, highly capable aviators and the support folks who take care of them. That takes resilient communities, resilient infrastructure and the ability to sustain that over time.
That what this project and others like it are doing.".
