Keep South Carolina Wild

Category: Advocacy

Protecting Habitat for Endangered Species- Chapin Magazine

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Written by Sara Green for Chapin Magazine

Published September 10, 2026: https://www.chapinmagazine.com/home/2026/9/9/protecting-habitat-for-endangered-species

Protecting Habitat for Endangered Species

Mountain stream – photo by Greg Hammond

Standing amongst towering longleaf pines in the sandhills of South Carolina, I watch in awe as a pair of red-cockaded woodpeckers enter and exit a nesting cavity in one of the trees. I delight in the squeaky sounds of this species that has recently been removed from “endangered” status after decades of habitat restoration and conservation work.

Northern bobwhite quail – photo by Matthew Jolley

 

Suddenly, behind me, a different sound transports me back to my childhood – “bob-WHITE!” Now, that’s a sound I don’t hear as often anymore. Northern bobwhite quail populations have declined by more than 85% across the United States. However, numbers have started to increase again in SC over the last 10 years.

As I’m standing in the longleaf pine forest, watching red-cockaded woodpeckers and listening to the calling quail, I cannot help but think about how habitat restoration efforts have helped both of these species. They both thrive in mature pine woodlands without hardwood trees and dense shrubs. Regular controlled burns every 2 to 3 years prevent hardwood growth, allowing the low plants which quail need for their food and cover to flourish while making it easier for the woodpeckers to forage for food.

These important habitat protections have historically come from an important federal law – the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Because of the previous “endangered” status of the red-cockaded woodpecker, its habitat in longleaf pine forests has been protected through the ESA. Although the northern bobwhite quail isn’t endangered, its struggling population has also greatly benefited from the protections of the woodpeckers’ habitat.

This is just one example of how the habitat protections that the ESA has provided are critical to preserving endangered species populations, as well as many other species of wildlife that depend on those same habitats, including game species and migratory birds.

Today, these habitat protections are in jeopardy. A new federal rule attempts to eliminate protection for the habitat of endangered and threatened species. This could be a death sentence for imperiled wildlife and the at-risk habitats they depend on.

Worldwide, wildlife populations have declined by an average of nearly 70% in the past 50 years. More than one-third of U.S. wildlife species are at risk of extinction. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) has identified 1,764 species of plants and animals which are in need of conservation measures – more than double the number from 10 years ago!

Habitat loss is the #1 cause of extinction. Roughly 85% of ESA-listed species rely on habitat protection for their survival and recovery.

The ESA has been one of the most effective and comprehensive conservation laws in the world, preventing extinction for 99% of species protected by it since it was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973. Congress intended the ESA to regulate the destruction of habitat when it proclaimed the first purpose of the ESA was “to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved.”

For more than 50 years, through twenty-five congressional terms and ten presidential administrations, prohibited “take” of species protected by the ESA has included significant habitat changes that result in species death or injury.

South Carolina is now one of the fastest growing states in the country, and new development is popping up everywhere. Forests, fields and wetlands are disappearing and wildlife are pushed out in search of other suitable habitats.

The ESA’s historic definition of “harm” includes habitat destruction or modification. The ESA’s historic definition of prohibited “take” of a listed species included actions that destroyed habitat when doing so would kill or injure wildlife. The ESA thus forced parties who sought to destroy the habitat of listed species to look before they leapt.

Importantly, the ESA rarely stops development projects. Instead, professionals from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and/or the National Marine Fisheries Service work with developers to design a project that reduces harm to imperiled wildlife and their habitat. The ESA has worked historically to protect habitats while still allowing projects to proceed with adequate safeguards.

There are many examples of wildlife species that need habitat protections all across our state. Due to the different types of ecosystems from the mountains to the sea, our state hosts a globally significant variety of species.

Altering forest habitat would degrade nesting, denning, and feeding features for the recently listed northern long-eared bat and two other bat species in SC listed as endangered. According to the SCDNR, bat species prey on insects and are of great economic importance to the state – they suppress nocturnal insect populations, including crop and forest pests, and reduce the need for costly pesticides. Bats save South Carolina’s agricultural industry over $115 million each year in pest suppression services, totaling $22.9 billion for the U.S. annually.

The Carolina heelsplitter is a critically endangered freshwater mussel found in streams across central SC. These and other freshwater mussels help establish the foundation of aquatic ecosystems and are vital for water quality. Mussels are natural filters and help to remove algae and bacteria from streams by feeding on them. They keep waterways clean for fish and other aquatic organisms, as well as for people. Since they filter water, however, mussels are especially vulnerable to habitat alteration including building of impoundments, channelization, dredging, and streambank scouring by stormwater runoff.

Loggerhead sea turtles are South Carolina’s state reptile, and a beloved visitor to our sandy beaches every summer for nesting. They are listed as “threatened” under the ESA, and as such, our beaches have been protected from alteration that would disrupt nesting habitat for this species as well as the endangered leatherback and Kemp’s ridley sea turtles which also occasionally visit SC beaches. Coastal residents and tourists alike know that we can’t walk on the dunes to avoid destroying the very environment that the turtles rely on for nesting. We can’t leave chairs or tents on the beach overnight, and we must fill in holes in the sand for risk of obstructing the turtles. All of these protections help to keep the loggerheads coming back to our beaches every summer.

Loggerhead sea turtle – photo by Sara Green

 

Just down the beach, piping plovers, a small, federally threatened shorebird, use South Carolina’s coast extensively as a wintering and migratory stopover habitat. They arrive on the South Carolina coast from northern breeding grounds starting as early as July and remain through late winter or early spring. They rest and feed on our wide sandy beaches, sand spits, and small coastal islands where they look for food in shallow pools and muddy areas where ocean tides bring in tiny sea creatures. Like many of South Carolina’s listed species, plovers face many threats from habitat destruction or modification, such as ripping up dune grass, raking beaches without adequate spotting for nests, shoreline alteration, or stabilization projects. These habitat impacts undoubtedly cause harm to the plovers by destroying areas they need to rest and forage during a large part of the year.

Piping plovers – photo by Harry Collins

 

To continue to protect these and other endangered and threatened species, the South Carolina Wildlife Federation has joined with the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), and state affiliates from North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, and Hawaii to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in Federal District Court in Charleston, SC over the agencies’ reckless and illegal attempt to eliminate protection for the habitat of protected species under the ESA.

This unlawful regulatory shift could be a death sentence for imperiled wildlife and at-risk habitats they depend on, as well as common species which share those habitats. The agencies’ rescission violates federal laws including the Administrative Procedure Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the ESA itself. This issue is very simple – if we want to protect species, we have to protect their homes.

Loggerhead sea turtle hatchling – photo by Ron Scroggy

 

The South Carolina Wildlife Federation

One of the 52 state & territory affiliates of the National Wildlife Federation, the South Carolina Wildlife Federation (SCWF) was founded in 1931. As the oldest conservation organization in the state, SCWF promotes science-based wildlife conservation policies and provides high quality education programs for all ages. SCWF’s mission is to conserve and restore South Carolina’s wildlife and wildlife habitat through education and advocacy. This is an urgent responsibility for all South Carolinians. Our natural resources improve the quality of life for each of us: hunters and fishermen, hikers and bikers, bird watchers and nature lovers, surfers and kayakers, and countless others. Our goal is to help people connect more deeply with nature—and to protect it for the next generation. Contributions to SCWF are an investment in the quality of South Carolina’s future. For more information, visit scwf.org.

Ephemeral Streams May Now Be at Risk – New Research

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Lacey McCormick & Erica Claycomb

National Wildlife Federation

https://www.nwf.org/Home/Latest-News/Press-Releases/2026/7-20-2026-Charleston-Drinking-Water

 

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Researchers at Yale and the University of Massachusetts have found that 50 percent of the water in the Edisto River starts out in streams that may no longer be protected by the Clean Water Act. These types of streams also provide 40 percent of the water in Bushy Park Reservoir.

New Research: Maps of streams at risk in the Edisto River and Bushy Park Reservoir watersheds

The Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that streams can only be protected under the federal Clean Water Act if they are “relatively permanent,” effectively excluding ephemeral streams that flow after rainfall or snowmelt.

The decision also greatly restricted which freshwater wetlands can be protected. An Environmental Protection Agency analysis suggests that roughly 74 percent, or 2.3 million acres, of South Carolina’s freshwater wetlands may no longer be protected.

“Clean drinking water starts at the source,” said Sara Green, executive director of the South Carolina Wildlife Federation. “For decades, the Clean Water Act helped protect the streams that provide our drinking water. Now we need to look at what we can do on the state and local level to keep these streams clean and healthy.”

The new maps of Charleston-area streams were built using models originally developed for a nationwide study of ephemeral streams published in the journal Science.

“Our research shows that small streams exert a meaningful influence on downstream, larger rivers, including systems that supply drinking water,” said Craig Brinkerhoff, a river scientist and engineer at Yale. “All of these waters are connected and if enough of these streams were polluted or damaged, it could potentially impact Charleston’s drinking water supplies over the long run.”

EPA is currently working on a formal rule outlining which types of streams and wetlands are protected by the Clean Water Act.

“Healthy streams and wetlands aren’t just pretty, they filter and remediate common pollutants like bacteria and agricultural runoff. Without Clean Water Act protections, a critical piece of our water treatment infrastructure is at risk,” said Green.

South Carolina’s drinking water infrastructure was recently rated a D+ by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which estimates the state already has $6 billion in drinking water infrastructure needs.

EPA documents acknowledge that loss of protections for these streams could increase the cost to treat raw water to drinking water standards.

“It’s a double-whammy that we are losing these longstanding federal protections at the same time the President’s budget proposes deep cuts to water treatment funding,” said Jessie Ritter, associate vice president for water at the National Wildlife Federation. “EPA should be transparent about how leaving these streams unprotected will affect Americans’  drinking water.”

Additional Resources:

SCWF joins the National Wildlife Federation and other state affiliates in a lawsuit to uphold the Endangered Species Act

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SELC, Conservation Groups, to Sue Over ‘Disastrous’ Wildlife Rollbacks

National Wildlife Federation and five others will take FWS and NMFS to Federal Court  

CHARLESTON, S.C.—The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation, South Carolina Wildlife Federation, North Carolina Wildlife Federation, Florida Wildlife Federation, Louisiana Wildlife Federation, Association of Northwest Steelheaders, and Conservation Council for Hawaii, gave 60-day notice to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) that they intend to sue over the agencies’ reckless and illegal attempt to eliminate protection for the habitat of protected species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). For decades, habitat protections under the ESA have been critical to the survival and recovery of nearly all listed species. 

 

This unlawful regulatory shift could be a death sentence for imperiled wildlife and at-risk habitats they depend on. It could also harm common species, including iconic southern wildlife like bobwhite quail and brook trout. The agencies’ rescission violates federal laws including the Administrative Procedure Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the ESA itself. 

 

“This disastrous rescission attempts to pull the teeth out of the ESA and tries to allow widespread destruction of iconic habitats across the nation, like our treasured long-leaf pine ecosystems in South Carolina,” said Catherine Wannamaker, a senior attorney in SELC’s Charleston office. “The rescission is not just illegal, it makes no sense. To protect and recover imperiled species, you must protect their homes.”

 

Habitat loss and degradation are the main causes of extinction for listed species, meaning habitat protection and restoration are essential to imperiled species’ successful conservation and recovery. The rescission finalized today by FWS and NMFS removes the definition of “harm” from the agencies’ rules. For decades, agencies defined harm to include “significant habitat modification or degradation” that kills or injures wildlife.  This definition was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1995.  

 

“South Carolina is one of the fastest growing states, and the associated new development is really changing the landscape of our beautiful state — which is the reason a lot of people move here,” said Sara K. Green, executive director of the South Carolina Wildlife Federation. “The habitat protections that the Endangered Species Act has provided are critical to preserving endangered species populations as well as many other species of wildlife that depend on those same habitats, including game species and migratory birds.” 

 

Removing this definition will risk accelerating destruction of habitat, which is the leading cause of species decline. The stakes from any narrowing of habitat protections are higher for wildlife here in the South. We host a globally significant variety of plants and animals that are under mounting pressure because of human-made threats, including climate change and habitat loss. More than 250 species across SELC’s six-state region are protected by the ESA.

 

“To remove habitat considerations from how we conserve wildlife is simply illogical,” said Tim Gestwicki, CEO of the North Carolina Wildlife Federation. “This proposal to remove habitat protections is a death knell for species.”

 

The ESA is one of the most effective and comprehensive conservation laws in the world, preventing extinction for 99 percent of species protected by it. The ESA also has broad public support. It was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, and since then, through twenty-five congressional terms and ten presidential administrations, has regulated the destruction of habitat. This rule change risks the ESA’s legacy of successfully protecting our national heritage. 

 

Donate HERE to help SCWF fight for endangered and threatened species in our state.

 

Header photo credits: Debra Partridge

 

National Wildlife Federation 90th Annual Meeting

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SCWF recently had the opportunity to represent South Carolina at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) 90th Annual Meeting – the largest and oldest gathering of grassroots conservation leaders in the nation.

The South Carolina Wildlife Federation, previously the SC Game & Fish Association (formed in 1931), has been a state affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) since NWF’s inception in 1936. The relationship between NWF and its state affiliates is unique among other conservation organizations because each affiliate functions as a completely separate organization concerning all aspects – finances, programs, policies, board governance, membership, etc. At the same time, NWF relies on the votes of its state affiliates to set policy and elect board members each year during NWF’s Annual Meeting.

This year, Rosemary Martin-Jones (SCWF Board Member & Affiliate Representative) and Sara Green (SCWF Executive Director & Alternate Affiliate Representative) represented SCWF and South Carolina at the recent NWF Annual Meeting held in Providence, RI. They not only voted on NWF resolutions and board members, but also had the opportunity to sit on committees and interact with colleagues at NWF and other state affiliate organizations. This meeting is always such a great opportunity for SCWF to learn from other affiliates, share our successes and brainstorm new ideas. They even got to hang out with Ranger Rick!

Resolutions were passed in different categories to set NWF policy regarding: data center regulatory and legislative safeguards and best practices; preservation of scientific and historical integrity in public lands; and restrictions on pesticide and rodenticide use.

SCWF co-sponsored the rodenticide resolution due to documented high rates of secondary poisoning in apex predators like raptors and mammalian predators from Second-Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs). This issue was recently brought to light in SC by biologists with the Town of Kiawah Island who noticed that their bobcat population declined dramatically due to SGAR poisoning (read more about that here). The newly passed resolution sets NWF policy to support strong federal and state restrictions on second generation anticoagulant rodenticides.

Legislative Update

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by Trip King, SCWF Government Relations Manager

The South Carolina General Assembly is set to adjourn at 5:00 pm on Thursday, May 14th thus ending a two-year Legislative Session. While there are several bills still pending that the South Carolina Wildlife Federation has an interest in, we have nevertheless successfully advocated for significant pieces of legislation that have already made it across the finish line. And, we anticipate, with only a few days left in the session, we’ll be able to help shepherd a few more bills into law.  

SCWF, working closely with our advocacy partner Audubon South Carolina, was able to pass legislation that designated the Prothonotary Warbler as South Carolina’s Official State Migratory Bird. That legislation, Senate Bill S.383 now Act 98 of 2026, passed the both Senate and the House receiving a unanimous roll call vote in each chamber and was signed into law by the Governor on February 27th.  Subsequently, we were honored to participate in a ceremonial bill signing ceremony with Governor McMaster at Audubon’s Francis Beidler Forest on April 20th. It was a very special occasion for a very special bird that calls South Carolina home each year after traveling thousands of miles on its annual migratory journey to and from Colombia, South America.

The “Hunting Heritage Protection Act”, House bill H.3872, is poised to receive final legislative approval this week after a minor amendment in the Senate. This legislation would ensure that there is no net loss in acreage for hunting opportunities on state-owned wildlife management areas managed by South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources. This initiative was an undertaking by the Sportsman’s Caucus and was supported by and advocated for by SCWF.

Also pending is H.5069, the “South Carolina Protected Lands and Conservation Coordination Act.”  This bill, which we expect will be given final approval by the General Assembly before adjournment, establishes a bold long-range State policy goal of increasing the number of protected lands to 7 million acres by the year 2050.  Currently, approximately 3.5 million acres of South Carolina’s roughly 21 million acres total land mass are protected from development by one means or another. SCWF has been very active in its advocacy of this legislation and has worked behind the scenes with the sponsor, Representative Travis Moore, and other legislative leaders to fast-track this bill through the House and Senate this year.

As with any legislative session, there are good bill that we have supported and lent our voices to that simply don’t make it into law. One of these bills is H.3409. Introduced by Representative Patrick Haddon, this legislation would increase the qualified conservation income tax credit from $250 per acre to $1,000 per acre. The income tax credit rate available to those who are willing to place their property in a qualified conservation easement or make a qualified conservation contribution has stood at $250 per acre for more than 20 years. That rate has not been adjusted for inflation nor exploding property values and should be adjusted as H.3409 would do.  Regrettably, Rep Haddon’s bill has stalled in the House Ways and Means Committee and will not pass this year.

While we enthusiastically supported the SC Conservation Education Act, which was enacted into law in 2025, neither the House Ways and Means Committee nor the Senate Finance Committee committed any money in the respective budgets for FY26-27 to fund this program. The Conservation Education Act, housed in the SC Department of Natural Resources, would fund third-party indoor and outdoor classroom conservation education programs specifically for youth.  We hope that the General Assembly will provide adequate resources to DNR in the future to fund this important program.

While the FY2026-27 state budget has yet to be finalized, there is good news for conservation and land protection in the current spending plan. Both the House and Senate, respectively, included record “new” money for conservation grant programs, such as conservation easement funding through the SC Conservation Bank, and land acquisition funding for state resource agencies. In recent years, the Legislature has really stepped up to the plate to fund land protection efforts in our state and we thank the entire General Assembly for their efforts and Governor McMaster who has prioritized protecting our most precious natural resources, land and water, for generations yet to come.

Prothonotary Warbler designated State Migratory Bird

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SCWF and our partners in the SC Conservation Coalition are celebrating the passage of SC Senate Bill 383—the “Prothonotary Warbler Recognition Act”—which designates the brilliant yellow, swamp-dwelling songbird as South Carolina’s official migratory bird. The legislation passed the South Carolina House and Senate unanimously, and is now headed to Gov. Henry McMaster to be signed into law.

The Prothonotary Warbler, a bright yellow bird with a striking dark eye, is often one of the rock stars of our birding outings.  As part of their natural behavior, they are often seen foraging and nesting right at eye level, and often in close proximity to trails, giving birdwatchers a close view of this beautifully colored bird.  

During the spring and summer months, the Prothonotary Warbler calls South Carolina home to feast upon insects, spiders, and snails located in and around our forested wetlands, before returning to their wintering grounds as far south as Colombia, South America. They depend on healthy swamps and waterways, illustrating the need to protect our state’s wetlands. 

Uncommon among warblers, this bird is a cavity nester, which presents us a great opportunity to help save this bird whose population has declined approximately 42% over the last 50 years. SCWF staff, volunteers, and partners have installed over 600 boxes on state, federal, and private land all throughout South Carolina over the past 4 years for this species.  

As South Carolina’s human population continues to grow, all wildlife face continued threats from habitat destruction due to pollution, deforestation, and invasive species.  This designation will help bring awareness to this amazingly bright and beautiful bird, and how we can all make a difference for wildlife by protecting and enhancing its habitat.

SC third graders studying the SC State Symbols will now get the opportunity to learn more about the iconic prothonotary warbler, its long-distance migration, and its habitat needs.

The song of the Prothonotary warbler is said to sound like: “sweet, sweet, sweet!”  This designation will help us ensure that the “sweet” song of the Prothonotary Warbler is a sound our swamps and forested wetlands will have for generations to come.

Best places to see Prothonotary Warblers:

 

Banner image by David Ramage.

9-year-old tells SC lawmakers that prothonotary warbler should be state’s official migratory bird

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Published by the Post and Courier – https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/prothonotary-warbler-sc-migratory-bird/article_6d26f31c-28ad-4724-ae9f-285943d8628f.html 

February 11, 2026

By Anna Wilder awilder@postandcourier.com

COLUMBIA — Jack Ragley has always been interested in birds. The 9-year-old’s favorite is the blue jay.

But on Feb. 10, Jack stood inside the S.C. Statehouse to talk about another bird he cares deeply about and argue that lawmakers should officially recognize it as South Carolina’s migratory bird.

After all, the beautiful, bright yellow prothonotary warbler that lives in swamps and wetlands travels “really far” during its annual migration, he said.

Also, South Carolina is “one of the places it needs the most” to live and thrive, he told the lawmakers.

“This bird chooses South Carolina every year, and I think South Carolina should choose this bird, too,” Jack said.

State lawmakers are considering adding the prothonotary warbler to South Carolina’s list of official symbols, which would make it the state’s first officially designated migratory bird.

The prothonotary warbler is a “strikingly beautiful, golden-yellow” songbird that migrates annually between South Carolina and its wintering grounds in Central and South America, according to the bill’s text.

South Carolina does not currently have an official migratory bird. The Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) has been the state bird since 1948, when the designation was signed into law by then-Gov. Strom Thurmond.

Jack, a fourth grader from Columbia, wore his Scout uniform as he testified before the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs House Subcommittee.

“I like birds because they’re beautiful to the eyes and to the ears,” Jack told the lawmakers. “They make being outside more fun and watching birds makes me feel relaxed.”

He is a Webelos, meaning “we will be loyal scouts,” in Pack 37 and has been an active member for five years. He said studying the local habitat at his school, Heathwood Hall Episcopal, has made him love nature “even more.”

“When you start noticing birds, you start noticing a lot more about what’s outside,” Jack said.

South Carolina provides critical breeding grounds and a stopover habitat during the bird’s annual life cycle, particularly in the state’s hardwood forests, swamps and wetlands.

 

Jay Keck, a naturalist with South Carolina Wildlife Federation, said the bird is easy to spot if you know where to look.

The bird has short legs and a short tail and is slightly larger than other warblers. Its song sounds like “sweet sweet sweet,” Keck said.

“This will help us ensure the sweet sound of the warbler is a sound our swamps, forests and wetlands will have for generations to come,” Keck said.

The prothonotary warbler has been experiencing a population decline, with numbers dropping by approximately 40 percent since the 1960s.

Sponsor of the bill, Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, wrote via text that designating it as the official state migratory bird draws attention to the role in conserving “interconnected ecosystems and promotes awareness and responsible land and water management practices.”

It’s also a “really cool-looking golden-yellow songbird,” Davis wrote.

Audubon, a nonprofit conservation organization that manages more than 30,000 acres of critical bird habitat statewide, helps maintain essential habitat for the birds by preserving tree cavities for nesting and ensuring an abundant supply of insects for food. This is all critical as the species travels thousands of miles.

Jack learned about the bill from his parents, Jay and Connelly-Anne Ragley, who both work in government. He also attended an Audubon-hosted event where he spoke with staff and learned more about the bird.

Connelly-Anne Ragley emailed just about everyone — Jack’s teacher, former teacher, head of school, science director and more — so the entire fourth grade knew he was headed to the Statehouse to talk about why the bird was important.

Lawmakers voted to advance the bill out of subcommittee, sending it to a full committee.

“I thought it was kind of heart-touching to me, because I kind of worked hard to do this,” Jack said of lawmakers’ response to his testimony.

He said designating the bird would help kids like him learn more about the state and “feel proud of it.”

“Designating a state migratory bird like the prothonotary warbler allows us to bring more awareness to our feathered friends, including what all South Carolinians can do to help birds,” Jen Tyrrell, community science and research manager at Audubon.

Jack hopes the bill will be signed by Gov. Henry McMaster this year.

After his speech, he celebrated with a lunch outing with his mom before heading back to his fourth-grade classroom for “peak,” an outdoor education program where students paddleboard on a pond and learn about the environment.

Lawmakers on the panel told Jack that Rep. Bill Hixon, R-North Augusta, the full committee’s chair, would write him a school excuse note.

When asked if he would return if the bill reached McMaster for signing, Jack smiled.

“I’ll try.”

Published by the Post and Courier – https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/prothonotary-warbler-sc-migratory-bird/article_6d26f31c-28ad-4724-ae9f-285943d8628f.html 

SC agency chose not to protect rivers because of industry pressure, ex-official says

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By Sammy Fretwell

Published in The State on February 3, 2026 – https://www.thestate.com/news/local/environment/article314549682.html 

South Carolina’s environmental agency has known for years state oversight of rivers is so weak that industrial-scale farms can suck rivers dry, but the department has done little to protect waterways from overuse because of political pressure, the department’s former water division chief says.

Mike Marcus, who retired as director of Department of Health and EnvironmentalControl’s water bureau in 2021, has written a report outlining flaws he says exist inthe rules and how that allows big farms to siphon away water others may need. His report is being used as evidence in a lawsuit by environmentalists against the agency that replaced DHEC, the S.C. Department of Environmental Services.

Documents filed as part of the lawsuit also include sworn testimony by an environmental services staffer supporting the Marcus report. The state rules allow rivers to be depleted of water for months, according to a deposition from DES staffmember Leigh Anne Monroe. No river in South Carolina is known to have been completely dried up because of a lack of oversight, but environmentalists say some waterways have been lowered in areas with large withdrawals — and the threat of losing all water in a river at somepoint is nothing to dismiss.

Both the Marcus report and Monroe’s testimony are the latest in a long-running effort by environmental groups to tighten rules that were approved years ago toprotect rivers, but in fact, are riddled with loopholes that favor industrial scale-farming. Environmentalists say the state’s 2010 water withdrawal law isn’t strong enough, and the regulations that accompany it are even weaker.

Having an adequate amount of water in rivers helps protect fish and wildlife,provides recreational opportunities for boaters and allows others who need water toget their share.

In his report, dated Oct, 16, 2025, Marcus said DHEC/DES staff told upper levelmanagement about flaws in the water regulations, but high-level officials didn’t do anything about it.

“Internally, staff explained to management that the regulation, as written, would yield unintended outcomes’’ and would not protect rivers, Marcus wrote. “I was informed that such staff concerns were not considered to be important by management and that changes … likely would not be supported by the various user groups who had authored much of the text.’’

Marcus, water bureau director from 2018 to 2021, went on to say in the report that “there were industry and political obstacles to approving a regulation’’ that better protected rivers.

The Marcus report did not name which members of upper level management failed to act to improve the river protection rules. DHEC/DES has had six full-time directors, and several interim directors, since the Legislature passed South Carolina’s first surface water withdrawal law 16 years ago. The current director is Myra Reece, a longtime agency staff member. The agency also had one previous high-level water bureau employee with ties to industry.

Laura Renwick, a spokeswoman for the environmental department, did not directly address the criticism in the Marcus report, but said in an email that changing the regulations would “not result in significant improvement in the evaluation and decision-making process.’’

Renwick’s email also said the state is planning a comprehensive review of policy, rules and regulations affecting rivers, groundwater and drought.

An attempt to gain comment from the S.C. Farm Bureau, a powerful lobbying force for agriculture, was unsuccessful. The Farm Bureau supports a variety of agricultural interests, including mega farms that withdraw large amounts of water for irrigation. Tommy Lavender, a lawyer who often represents industry and was involved in talks about changing the regulations, had no immediate comment.

But others said the Marcus report is accurate. Lowcountry resident J.J. Jowers, who was involved in 2020 discussions on whether to improve the regulations, said it never seemed to him that DHEC wanted to tighten the rules.

“They look at you straight in your face and won’t talk to you — It’s obvious political pressure,’’ Jowers said. “I can’t blame them because, if they spoke out too much, they’d be gone.’’

Carl Brzorad, a lawyer with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said Dnvironmental Services should have done more because it’s obvious the state rules are inadequate and favor big agricultural interests over the general public. He said it is significant that a former top level water official and a current staffer say the rules are inadequate.

The lawsuit says industry drafted the regulations and DHEC accepted that. The department ‘’took the industry’s version and just put it in the code of regulations,’’ Brzorad said. “It is a total blank check for industrial agriculture to take all the water out of rivers.’’

Brzorad said the department’s failure to consider changes to the regulations aren’t surprising. The department has failed in other cases to seek improvements in laws or regulations to protect the environment, including with the discharge of forever chemicals in rivers, limits on those chemicals in sludge, and the discharge of other pollutants into waterways, he said.

“We certainly see the agency bending over backwards to protect industrial polluters in other areas,’’ he said. “I don’t know if it’s an inability or an unwillingness to do what needs to be done to protect public health and the environment.’’

Because of concerns about the water regulations, the law center asked a court Monday to declare part of the rules in violation of the law and to prohibit Dnvironmental Services+ from using the rules in examining large water withdrawals.

At issue are regulations that were supposed to provide detail on how to administer the 2010 water law.

The lawsuit Brzorad’s organization filed two years ago said the regulations do not follow the water withdrawal law. Regulations often accompany state laws to provide guidance on how the law should be administered.

The suit followed criticism in 2022 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that South Carolina’s water law and regulations are not scientifically sound, do not protect fish and wildlife and could allow rivers to be dried up by excessive use during certain times of the year. The EPA said at the time that South Carolina’s rules are inconsistent with the federal Clean Water Act.

Questions about both the 2010 law and the regulations have come up regularly since the law passed. A major concern is over provisions that allow huge farms to take all the water they want without public notice or permits, both of which are required of industries that seek to withdraw water.

All the large farms need to do is to register the amount they want to take. State regulators must approve that as long as the withdrawals are within what’s known as “safe yield,’’ or the amount of water that can be withdrawn without hurting the environment.

The problem is that the safe yield formula is a mathematical calculation that doesn’t take into account seasonal differences in river levels, critics say. As a result, rivers could be dried up for as much as half a year by withdrawals, critics say. That would occur during the times of year when they are naturally the lowest, often in the summer and fall, critics say.

Monroe, the DES program manager of water quantity permitting, said in a deposition that the regulations do not mirror the law and do not protect rivers from being depleted.

Asked if the agency has failed to use a safe yield formula that adequately protects rivers, she said: “Yeah. I mean, that’s what it seems like to me at this point.’’

Already, the capacity of some rivers has been completely allocated to some entities or people, meaning others could not withdraw water — and the rivers could be dried up at certain times of the year if all the water were withdrawn, court records show.

Among them are streams in the Edisto River basin, a farming rich area about an hour’s drive west of Columbia. Monroe answered “yes’’ when asked in her deposition if her agency has authorized interests to “completely dewater” the Edisto River basin for more than half a year.

In addition to those concerns, excessive withdrawals could be a particular problem for streams, such as the Reedy in the Greenville area; the Black and Pee Dee rivers in eastern South Carolina; and the Tyger River near Spartanburg, court records show.

Questions about large farm withdrawals began to arise in 2013, when residents of Aiken and Barnwell counties learned that a massive potato farm was planning to open near the Edisto’s south fork.

The state did not issue a public notice about plans to withdraw billions of gallons of water by the farm and a permit was not required under the law since agricultural withdrawals are exempt. Many people were outraged that the farm was opening with little public input. People questioned whether the withdrawals would dry up the south fork at times during the year.

The State newspaper chronicled the issue in a 2017 series of stories, including an investigative package on the impact mega farms were having on the Edisto River basin.

Published in The State on February 3, 2026 – https://www.thestate.com/news/local/environment/article314549682.html 

Help us protect the Cainhoy peninsula

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We need your help to protect one of Charleston’s last undeveloped parcels from a harmful development plan.

Developers are building houses and filling wetlands on one of Charleston’s most ecologically important and vulnerable tracts. Located about 20 miles north of Charleston, the Cainhoy peninsula is a virtually untouched landscape that currently provides habitat for endangered and threatened wildlife, has thousands of acres of wetlands and creeks, and borders the Francis Marion National Forest.

The development would be the size of a small new city and include at least 12,000 residential and commercial units, 700-900 docks, and tens of thousands of people, adding to the traffic issues already clogging up roads in Charleston. To build this, developers will fill nearly 200 acres of wetlands and place 45% of the homes in the floodplain.

The Cainhoy development site is already in a low-lying and flood-prone area, and filling wetlands that absorb water and putting homes in harm’s way only makes a bad situation worse. There are responsible ways to build, and the current plan is not one of them.

To stop this ill-advised plan, we’re urging Charleston City Council and the Mayor to protect Cainhoy by updating the development agreement they signed with the property’s landowners 30 years ago.

Join the South Carolina Wildlife Federation, Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), Charleston Waterkeeper, and the Coastal Conservation League in urging Charleston leaders to protect this special place.

Sign the petition

 

All photos by: ©Stephanie Gross/SELC

Governor McMaster prioritizes land conservation

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Thank you to Governor Henry McMaster for his dedication to preserving land in South Carolina!

Below is section of the transcript of his State of the State Address given January 28, 2026 which relates to land conservation. Read the full transcript here.

 

“South Carolina’s future prosperity requires us to enhance our efforts to respect and protect our land, our history, our culture and our natural environment.  It is not a coincidence that previous years of economic growth have followed our efforts to conserve, preserve, and display our unique gifts of nature’s abundance.

These are not opposing objectives which must be balanced as in a competition, one against the other. Instead, they are complementary, intertwined, and inseparable, each dependent on the other. Each can be accomplished to the fullest if we plan now and be bold.

In recent years, we have provided funds, time, and attention for identifying significant properties for preservation and conservation and for flood mitigation.

We created the Floodwater Commission. Its purposes included measuring our strengths and weaknesses concerning flooding, erosion and the conditions of our rivers, coast and barrier islands; and to make recommendations for the State to act upon.  From the commission’s recommendations came the creation of a new cabinet agency, the Office of Resilience, and a Chief Resilience Officer for the state.

Their mission: To develop plans and studies to identify and understand flooding issues, to deploy mitigation projects, to provide grants for flood reduction, to conduct the voluntary buyout of homes in flood-prone areas, to protect and preserve endangered lands and wetlands, and to take on special environmental protection projects, as was done with the remarkable cleanup of over a million and a half gallons of hazardous toxins, tainted ballast and old diesel fuel inside the USS Yorktown in Charleston Harbor.

After the state’s official Water Plan languished without update or consensus for over twenty years, we created the WaterSC working group, led by the new cabinet agency, the Department of Environmental Services.  We tasked this cadre of stakeholders to quickly complete the plan and provide an inventory of how much surface and ground water we have, and how much we will need in the future.  Like the old saying goes, “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”  I am pleased to report that the new State Water Plan was completed and published just last month.

Today we have a veritable army of people, farmers, public and private organizations, as well as local governments, dedicated to these endeavors, including the Conservation Land Bank, the Department of Natural Resources, the Office of Resilience, the Forestry Commission, the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, the Nature Conservancy, the Open Space Institute, the Darla Moore Foundation, the Audubon Society and Francis Marion University.

In less than 10 years, we have preserved almost 400,000 acres of historically or environmentally significant lands, including the State’s largest conservation easement in history, which last year permanently protected 62,000 acres in the Pee Dee.

We have protected our most important historic and cultural sites, including Snow’s Island, where General Francis Marion’s Revolutionary War camp is somewhere located, and the colonial era Blessing Plantation, on the Cooper River. These properties are protected and in the future will become publicly owned, welcoming visitors to enjoy and learn about key aspects of South Carolina’s landscape and history.

Also included in this newly conserved acreage are African American historic sites, working farms and forests, and new areas for outdoor recreation, from the mountains to the sea.

Over the decade we have created new state parks, such as Ramsey Grove on the Black River and expanded existing parks in the midlands and the upstate. Among these is the Glendale Nature Park, in Spartanburg, one of the largest urban parks in the Upstate.

A significant portion of this land was protected with funding from the South Carolina Conservation Land Bank – just over $250 million. The investment from the Bank has brought in other funding from federal, local and private sources, exhibiting an unprecedented level of efficiency and effectiveness that has been the hallmark of South Carolina land conservation for many years.

Importantly, local governments have stepped up on land conservation, collectively investing many millions of dollars to conserve land and create new parks.  But, of the forty-six counties in the state, only a few have conservation funding programs. I urge all of our counties to join this effort.

Protecting our land is a gift for all our people.  With insight and continued hard work, we can achieve the goal helping private and public property owners with preserving half their lands for future generations, and making our South Carolina recognizable as the closest thing we have to heaven on earth.“

 

Banner photo by Melanie Gallant.