Conservation-minded projects set to protect DI’s shoreline

The trails and waterways along Daniel Island’s Wando River shoreline have long been a beacon for walkers, bikers, kayakers and other nature enthusiasts. 

 

Within a few years, new opportunities for residents and visitors to partake in recreational pursuits on the island’s Cooper River waterfront may be available – thanks to a trio of conservation-minded projects on land owned by the S.C. State Ports Authority (SPA). 

 

CONSERVATION EASEMENT – SALTWATER MITIGATION BANK

The SPA recently entered into a partnership with the Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust to place about 135 acres of marsh, tidal creeks and former farmland into a conservation easement that will be held by the trust in perpetuity.

 

Used prior to 1970 as a dredge disposal site, and once destined to be part of a Global Gateway Port on Daniel Island, the property is slated be restored to its original state and become a saltwater mitigation bank. 

 

According to the SPA website, the bank will “provide companies the ability to purchase tidal saltwater wetlands credits for their mitigation projects, supporting economic growth and job creation, while also protecting and enhancing environmental assets.”

 

“A mitigation bank works by creating or restoring wetlands,” said Mark Messersmith, environmental manager for the SPA. “Based on quality of the improvements that are made, the Army Corps of Engineers gives you ‘credits’ that can be used to mitigate future impacts from other projects.”

 

Working with Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust to preserve the property seemed like “a great fit,” Messersmith said. And it means that the area can be environmentally protected and utilized by community members.

 

“The effort will create habitat, and the area can expect to see water quality improvements,” he said. “There will also be public access around the perimeter.”

 

An original creek filled in with dredging materials more than 50 years ago will also be restored as part of the project. The overall initiative, which includes the clearing of brush and replanting of marsh grasses, will cost around $1 million, Messersmith said, and will take about a year to complete once construction begins. 

 

The project is quite possibly the largest saltwater restoration effort in South Carolina history. 

 

“The only other saltwater mitigation or restoration that is occurring is at the Savannah River basin in the tidal areas,” District 37 State Senator Larry Grooms said. “It’s an island that was purchased for conservation as part of mitigation for the Savannah River dredging project. But this one is much larger.”

 

Active work on planning for the Daniel Island project began in 2016, but talks about how to properly preserve the land for public use started long before then, according to Grooms, who has been involved from the start. 

 

“It’s been a start and stop process from the initial conversations we had with the port…when the idea first surfaced that this could be a wonderful asset for the community,” he said. “This is truly one of those win-win situations.” But before the project could progress, there were hurdles to overcome, Grooms said. 

 

Site assessment work had to be completed, and then legal issues with a contractor hired to do the work held things up, followed by a complete shutdown due to COVID from about 2020 to 2022. Now things are finally moving forward, said Grooms, who envisions the saltwater mitigation bank site offering public access for passive recreation such as hiking, biking, kayaking, and fishing. 

 

BERKELEY COUNTY PARK & STATE LEASED LAND

As previously reported in The Daniel Island News, Berkeley County plans to purchase a separate 115-acre parcel of the SPA’s Daniel Island land, known as the North Island Tract, to create a new park.  

 

“When you combine it with the North Island property, which can have more active recreation activities, you’ve got one of the best amenities that a community can have,” Grooms said. 

 

Another 50 acres, set aside in 2015 by the SPA in a lease to the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, can also be utilized for public recreation. Exact uses for the state’s PRT property have not yet been determined, but the public will be asked to weigh in.

 

“I think a lot of that would be driven by what the community wants to see there,” Grooms said. “The PRT doesn’t want to hold the property, but that’s where it’s parked right now, until the city and county can come together to decide what they want to see there. When you add that land with the other two parcels, you’ve got the makings of a very unique park. And I think they should all be tied together and the various usages mapped out.”

 

The end result would set aside some 300 acres and create 2.5 miles of protected shoreline along the Cooper River – giving Daniel Island residents and visitors new opportunities to enjoy a prized stretch of land they simply could not access before. 

 

“We’re proud to be involved in holding the conservation easement (for the saltwater mitigation bank) and protecting that 135 acres in perpetuity,” said Chris Vaughn, executive director of Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust. 

 

“It’s wonderful that it’s going to be connected to this new Berkeley County park and then the (State) Parks, Recreation and Tourism lease area,” Vaughn said. “I think it all ties together neatly for open space and the benefit of residents of Daniel Island, as well as folks who enjoy the Cooper River.”

 

Grooms, who has worked for more than two decades on finding uses for the island’s port land, sees an even bigger picture. 

 

“Something that was once going to be the largest container terminal on the East Coast is now going to be one of the best natural preserved parks on the East Coast.”