Green spaces, marshes, water access examined in 10-year vision

By Gwyneth J. Saunders CONTRIBUTOR

Much of Bluffton’s identity – including its “State of Mind” – is indelibly marked by its natural beauty on and off the water.

Watermen have lived off the harvests of oysters and shrimp. Residents have traveled from mainland to islands and back from the area’s earliest history. Visitors cruise along the Intracoastal Waterway, and recreational boaters kayak or paddle along the May River.

Blueprint Bluffton, the town’s 2022 comprehensive plan, covers 10 different areas with goals for the next 10 years, one of which focuses on natural resources.

The topic’s four main goals are:

1. Increase the amount of and access to public parks and green space;

2. Improve existing recreation facilities;

3. Increase public water access; and

4. Continue to conserve open space and ecologically sensitive natural areas.

“Beaufort County and Bluffton have several unique features. We have high salinity waters and high tidal amplitude because our local rivers are fingers of the Atlantic Ocean that reach inland – (they are) not from fresh- water sources,” said Beth Lewis, Water Quality Program Administrator for Bluffton. “This unique environment results in large expanses of salt marsh and high biodiversity. Beaufort County is approximately 50% salt marsh, and about 50% of the South Carolina’s salt marsh resides in Beaufort County.”

The oyster beds in the May River and other tributaries are constantly monitored for bacteria and other hazardous pollutants. Several beds in the headwaters of the May have long been closed to harvesting, and beds lower down the river are periodically closed off if heavy rains or hurricanes have impacted the water’s salinity, or a hazard of some sort has been detected.

Lewis said the Town of Bluffton and the Beaufort County government sign a Memorandum of Agreement for shared National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit requirements.

“One of these shared activities includes joint water quality monitoring in multiple watersheds, including the New River Watershed, for mercury and enterococcus,” Lewis said. “Protecting our local waterways goes together with protecting our local salt marsh environment.”

Lewis noted that marshes provide nursery grounds for numerous commercially and recreationally important species, can serve as filters to remove sediment and pollution from water, buffer the mainland, and sequester carbon.

Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide. It is one method for reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with the goal of reducing climate change.

“Studies have shown that coastal wetland ecosystems, such as salt marsh, can sequester and store large amounts for carbon due to their rapid growth rates and slow decomposition rates,” Lewis added.

Please see BLUEPRINT on page 8A