doing something about it. Katie puts the call out and coordinates volunteers. Next, we can go in with the MWRs and stabilize the shoreline.” But this is bigger than just Kiawah.“ You’ ve got development, agricultural lands, and septic systems upstream, all contributing to poor water quality,” Buddy says.“ To have clean water, we need to get the oysters back. But we’ ll also have to look at the sources of pollution.”
Volunteer Testimonial STEWART MITTNACHT
“ I like going out into the mud, seeing all that life— the fiddler crabs scuttling about underfoot, the little bubbles of swamp gas made by the busy action of bacteria, the echoing honks of herons and egrets, the periwinkles climbing stalks of spartina grass as they slurp up algae so dark green it is almost black. Feeling the weight of an MWR in your hands as you haul it down to the water, the slickness of the muck underfoot, the hot sun on your back, it affirms your commitment to protect and preserve the wonders of the salt marsh. And when that MWR slides into the silt, and you scramble out of the murk to go and unload another, you walk away knowing that what you have started that day will echo for eternity, each MWR a seed that will grow into a thriving oyster reef that will go on long after your time, feeding and sheltering future crabs and periwinkles and all the rest.”
A Model for the Watershed
Donna hopes the work along the Kiawah River will ripple outward. Already, communities at Rhetts Bluff and Kiawah River have expressed interest in their own living shoreline projects.“ Our overall goal is that this becomes widely implemented,” Sean says.“ Instead of defaulting to grey infrastructure like bulkheads, we hope people will first think about living shorelines. If we collectively reestablish oyster reef habitat, we’ ll improve water quality, support 130 species of wildlife, and bring balance back to the system.”
The best part of these practices, according to Kiawah Conservancy’ s Senior Ecological Health and Conservation Coordinator, Lee Bundrick, is that they enhance the resilience of both human and wildlife communities.“ Working with nature to tackle issues is a great way to support the health of our ecosystem and helps sustain it for the benefit of future generations,” Lee says. For Buddy, the measure of success is clear:“ I’ d like to see oysters in the Kiawah River able to be harvested again. That would be an ideal situation. We all want that, I’ m sure.”