COLUMBIA, S.C. — The last regulatory hurdles have fallen away for the construction of new erosion-control structure on the beach of Daufuskie Island, despite concerns for sea turtles and shorebirds.
Savannah-based Sligh Environmental Consultants responded to criticism from the S.C. Department of Natural Resources by stating that the project proposed by the Haig Point Club & Community Association wouldn’t harm sea turtle nesting or shore birds, arguing that the area isn’t suitable habitat for them anyway.
“The proposed revetment would protect critical habitat types vitally important to many species of wading birds, waterfowl and neotropical songbirds,” wrote Jeffery Williams, project biologist for Sligh, in a February letter released Monday through an open-records request.
“In addition, the proposed revetment would ensure that stormwater and pollutant filtration from the adjacent upland development continues prior to being discharged into the Calibogue Sound.”
Haig Point Club wants permission to build two new erosion control revetments and to add onto four existing areas of erosion control. The work entails adding 95 feet of rip-rap on the northern end of Calibogue Sound and a 696-foot revetment on the sound’s southern portion.
On Monday, Jim Beasley, spokesman for the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, said the agency had granted the permit with a few conditions.
But erecting hardened structures have been found to make erosion worse seaward and adjacent to the structures, especially on the downdrift side. The habitat of a variety of birds, turtles and other creatures can pay the price.
“The construction of a new revetment along this undeveloped shoreline is not warranted and results in an unnecessary encroachment on sensitive public trust resources,” said Susan Davis, coastal environmental coordinator for the DNR in a letter to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, in December.
If the sea turtle nests are seaward of the structures, they could also be washed out, leaving poor nesting habitats and incubation areas of the beaches in front of existing armoring structures.
Females also struggle to find favorable nesting sites because of the structures, forcing them to head back to the water without nesting.
Armoring can also bar sea turtles from the upper regions of the dune system. The result: they nest at lower elevation where the eggs can drown when tides flood the area.
It can also upset the conditions that help affect the sex ratio of hatchlings, according to specific studies cited by DNR.
But on March 23, Davis seemed to pull the agency’s objections.
“We find the submitted information adequate in justifying the need for the proposed 696 feet of riprap,” she wrote to DHEC.
“While we don’t agree that the project will have no effect on nearby turtle and/or shorebird habitats, we believe the benefits of protecting the freshwater/estuarine marsh complex west of the proposed revetment outweigh the potential detriments.”
