The LowCountry Institute is a stakeholder in the Beaufort/Port Royal Sea Level Rise Task Force, as Chris Marsh co-chaired the advisory group in 2015.

The group, comprised of concerned citizens, elected officials, small businesses and municipal staff, met to review Beaufort’s and Port Royal’s vulnerability to sea level rise and to develop strategies to improve resilience in the face of an inevitable environmental change. The group is working from the Sea Level Rise Adaptation Report for Beaufort County that was developed as part of a collaborative effort by Beaufort County stakeholders and sponsored by S.C. Sea Grant Consortium. LCI staff took part in the public workshops that were part of the process of developing the report, and the County’s action is being presented as an example of how to begin addressing sea level rise in other communities. The committee, with technical assistance from two Ph.D. coastal scientists, concluded that local neighborhoods had the ability to adapt to a 3-foot rise in sea level. This information was communicated to the public through a series of neighborhood meetings.

* image courtesy of climate.gov