SPRING 2016 COASTAL CONSERVATION LEAGUE n3 East Edisto: A Transformational Conservation Victory n10 Captain Sams Spit Still in the Crosshairs n20 Victory: Obama Administration Says No to Offshore Drilling SPRING 2016 Staff Dana Beach, Executive Director Programs Lisa Turansky, Chief Conservation Officer PROGRAM DIRECTORS Hamilton Davis Natalie Olson Katie Zimmerman Laurin Manning SOUTH COAST Kate Parks Schaefer, Office Director Reed Armstrong, Project Manager NORTH COAST Nancy Cave, Office Director COLUMBIA Merrill McGregor, Director of Government Relations Kenneth Sercy, Utility Regulation Specialist Alan Hancock, Grassroots Campaigns Manager GrowFood Carolina Sara Clow, General Manager Jackson Cauthen Jessica Diaz Nina Foy Benton Montgomery Alison Pierce Jake Sadler Nate Toth Development Nancy Appel, Director of Development Kristy Collins, Membership & Events Manager Nora Kravec, Data Manager Shannyn Smith, Senior Development Officer Administration Tina Allen, Chief Financial Officer Erin Crouse, Staff Accountant Christine Gallina, Receptionist Tonnia Switzer-Smalls, HR and Administration Jeanne Snell, Bookkeeper/Office Manager Offices Board of Directors Margot T. Rose, Board Chair Charleston Berryman Edwards, Vice Chair 328 East Bay Street Johnston C. Adams Charleston, SC 29401 Joel A. Berly, III 843.723.8035 Ceara Donnelley P. Steven Dopp Columbia Berryman Edwards 1202 Main Street, 3rd Floor Katharine Hastie Columbia, SC 29201 Cynthia Kellogg 803.771.7102/803.758.5800 Deborah Kennedy Kennard Jeff Leath Beaufort Pierre Manigault 902 North Street Jim McNab Richard Schmaltz Beaufort, SC 29902 Jeffrey Schutz Tel: 843.522.1800 Charles M. Tarver John Thompson Georgetown David Westerlund 709-B Front Street Stephen Zoukis Georgetown, SC 29442 Tel: 843.545.0403 Magazine GrowFood Carolina Laurin Manning, Editor 990 Morrison Drive Cover photo: Julie Frye, Design Charleston, SC 29403 Prothonotary warbler by Dana Beach Tel: 843.727.0091 Dana Beach Dana Beach FROM THE DIRECTOR Staff Dana Beach, Executive Director Programs Lisa Turansky, Chief Conservation Officer PROGRAM DIRECTORS Hamilton Davis Natalie Olson Katie Zimmerman Laurin Manning SOUTH COAST Kate Parks Schaefer, Office Director EAST EDISTO: Reed Armstrong, Project Manager NORTH COAST A TRANSFORMATIONAL Nancy Cave, Office Director Dana Beach COLUMBIA Merrill McGregor, Director of Government Relations CONSERVATION Kenneth Sercy, Utility Regulation Specialist Alan Hancock, Grassroots Campaigns Manager International Paper, Weyerhauser, Bowater, Sonoco, and Stone. The mills’ voracious appetite for wood GrowFood Carolina pulp spawned the conversion of hundreds of thou- Sara Clow, General Manager VICTORY sands of acres of southeastern forests to loblolly pine Jackson Cauthen Jessica Diaz plantations. By the 1980s, one-eighth of the land in Nina Foy South Carolina, some 2.5 million acres, was in timber Benton Montgomery In the first part of February, an area Alison Pierce company ownership. Westvaco claimed more than Jake Sadler Nate Toth twice the size of Mt. Pleasant was per- 500,000 acres on the South Carolina coast. manently protected in Charleston and As the century drew to a close, tax law changes, Development Dorchester counties. This landscape of corporate mergers, and the threat of hostile takeovers Nancy Appel, Director of Development by “corporate raiders” like Sir James Goldsmith and Kristy Collins, Membership & Events Manager forests and fields, swamps and bogs, Nora Kravec, Data Manager Henry Kravis launched a massive selloff of indus- Shannyn Smith, Senior Development Officer creeks, streams and branches – in three trial timber land. By 2012, MeadWestvaco had sold major watersheds – extends from the 200,000 acres and placed much of their remaining Administration property on the market. Tina Allen, Chief Financial Officer Ashley River to the ACE Basin. The Erin Crouse, Staff Accountant The largest block of land still owned by MeadWest- Christine Gallina, Receptionist protection agreement represents the vaco, East Edisto, covered 72,000 acres stretching Tonnia Switzer-Smalls, HR and Administration Jeanne Snell, Bookkeeper/Office Manager largest private conservation transaction from the Ashley River to the Edisto River, almost in the history of South Carolina. equally divided between Charleston and Dorchester Board of Directors counties. Because of the proximity to the Charleston Margot T. Rose, Board Chair metropolitan area, the company envisioned convert- Berryman Edwards, Vice Chair Johnston C. Adams he successful negotiation that led to this ing the land to housing subdivisions and commercial Joel A. Berly, III Ceara Donnelley landmark agreement between the owners development. P. Steven Dopp – global packaging company WestRock – and The Charleston County portion of East Edisto was Berryman Edwards T Katharine Hastie Lowcountry conservation groups began a zoned one house per 25 acres, the most protective ru- Cynthia Kellogg decade ago. Its origins, however, reach back to the ral zoning in South Carolina. This zoning code and its Deborah Kennedy Kennard Jeff Leath 1930s, when West Virginia Pulp and Paper (the underlying county comprehensive plan were enacted Pierre Manigault Jim McNab predecessor of Westvaco) built one of the state’s first with Conservation League leadership in the mid- Richard Schmaltz paper mills on the Cooper River and began acquiring 1990s, after three years of intense debate in 2001. Jeffrey Schutz Charles M. Tarver forest land in the Lowcountry. In Dorchester County, only the Ashley River plan- John Thompson The opening of the North Charleston mill marked tation district was subject to reasonably protective David Westerlund Stephen Zoukis the beginning of the paper era in South Carolina, with rural standards. That county’s portion of East Ed- further construction of paper mills in the state by isto was designated “absence of control.” This left Magazine Laurin Manning, Editor Julie Frye, Design SPRING 2016 | COASTAL CONSERVATION LEAGUE 3 The Vision for East Edisto: • Create jobs before homes • Establish sustainable towns and villages • Provide educational opportunities • Maintain and preserve the character of the Lowcountry “The East Edisto Conservancy is an organization that was set up specifically to oversee the protections that are in place here because, as a friend of mine said, ‘Perpetuity is an awfully long time.’” — Dana Beach The East Edisto Conservancy will be governed by a board of conservation and WestRock leaders: • Charles Lane, chair, ACE Basin Task Force • Raleigh West, director, Lord Berkeley Land Trust • Michael McShane, director, Ducks Unlimited • Kenneth Seeger, president, WestRock Land and Development • William “Mac” Baughman, WestRock Land and Development 4 COASTAL CONSERVATION LEAGUE | SPRING 2016 Dana Beach Dorchester with substantially less negotiating leverage “After nine years of outreach and hard work than Charleston. on the part of our team and our friends in MeadWestvaco company representatives met with the community, we’re finally at the point Governor Mark Sanford early in his second term roughly ten years ago to discuss their plans for a massive devel- of being able to celebrate the recording of opment project nearly the size of the City of Atlanta. density restrictions on 75% of the East Sanford denounced the proposal, concerned that it Edisto area. This is a major accomplishment. would “destroy the ACE Basin.” He encouraged officials It preserves over 50,000 acres of land in a to consult with Lowcountry conservationists to explore alternatives to full-scale development. permanently rural state.” As a result of those meetings, MeadWestvaco agreed — Ken Seeger, president, WestRock Land to permanently protect 75% of the property. The re- and Development mainder, closest to Summerville and a small area near Ravenel, would be developed according to planning principles the Conservation League has advocated since And the devil was truly in the details. Over the course of the organization’s founding in 1989. Traditional neigh- a decade of deliberation, Ducks Unlimited, The Nature borhood designs would allow residents to walk, bike, and Conservancy, and the Conservation League took the take public transportation, blending commercial uses lead in determining exactly what the protection strategy with residential, and featuring an extensive network of would look like. By the end of 2014, there was still no parks, squares, and hiking and biking trails. Over the agreement on the specific protective instruments. succeeding ten years, MeadWestvaco hired planners Then in early 2015, Ken Seeger, the head of the land and convened dozens of public meetings to develop the development arm of MeadWestaco (now WestRock), details for the property’s future. proposed creating a new nonprofit organization, the East Edisto Conservancy. Three of five board positions would East Edisto Ridgeville 52 Summerville 26 DORCHESTER COUNTY Ashley River BERKELEY COUNTY Ashley River Historic North District Charleston COLLETON COUNTY River Edisto 526 Charleston County 17 Park CHARLESTON COUNTY ACE Basin EAST EDISTO DENSITY RESTRICTED AREA OTHER PROTECTED AREAS 2-17-2016 EAST EDISTO REGION WestRock SPRING 2016 | COASTAL CONSERVATION LEAGUE 5 Dana Beach be filled by representatives of the conservation commu- “If you really care about land legacy, then nity and the remaining two by East Edisto landowners. there has to be land included in the legacy. Fifty-five thousand acres would be subject to a simple conservation easement limiting uses and density.