RESEARCH AND POLICY ISSUES REGARDING COASTAL WETLAND 

 IMPOUNDMENTS: LESSONS LEARNED IN SOUTH CAROLINA 



M. Richard DeVoe and Douglas S. Baughman 



South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium 



287 Meeting Street 



Charleston, SC 29401 



ABSTRACT 



More than 140,000 acres along South Carolina's coastal rivers and tidal creeks were impounded 

 for rice production during the early 1800's; 70,000 of the State's 504,000 acres of contiguous 

 wetlands remain impounded today. Because of heightened awareness of the inherent productivity 

 of these systems for waterfowl habitat and aquaculture, a number of property owners have sub- 

 mitted permit applications to State and Federal regulatory agencies to re-impound formerly 

 impounded areas. (The impoundment of undisturbed wetlands is not allowed in South Carolina.) 

 These applications have generated a number of questions, some of which are still being debated, 

 regarding the ecology, management, and public policy of coastal impoundments, and wetlands in 

 general. A lack of information needed to address these issues has exacerbated the controversy and 

 prolonged debate. As a result, opinions concerning the effects impoundments have on wetland 

 processes have differed between wildlife and marine biologists. This dichotomy is especially evident 

 within several of the 13 agencies which play a role in the decision-making process. Additionally, 

 inconsistent decision-making has contributed to the dilemma. Whereas several public entities have 

 been granted permission recently to reconstruct impoundments on public lands, no private land- 

 holder has yet to receive similar consideration. Recent Supreme Court decisions on the rights of 

 private property owners may affect this situation. Of course, politics and economics play an 

 extremely important role in the process. These and other issues have underscored the need for 

 credible and focused research data and information on one hand and a fair, consistent, and un- 

 biased regulatory framework on the other. These issues are not unique to South Carolina; indeed, 

 similar situations exist in Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and California. 



INTRODUCTION 



The State of South Carolina is blessed with over 504,000 acres of coastal, contiguous wetlands. 

 This represents more than 20% of the total coastal marsh acreage on the East Coast and 11% of 

 the remaining acreage in the United States (Tiner 1977; Office of Technology Assessment 1984). 

 A significant portion of these wetland areas are or at one time were impounded for a variety of 

 uses. Today, approximately 70,400 acres, or 14%, of the State's half-million acres are currently 

 impounded (Tiner 1977). Additionally, another 74,000 acres of coastal marsh are estimated to have 

 once been impounded (South Carolina Coastal Council 1984). 



The existence of impounded wetland sites in South Carolina can be traced back to the days of 

 rice culture, an industry that flourished from the mid-1700's to the late 1800's. Rice was first grown 

 on upland sites, but planters soon realized that irrigated lands could contribute to healthier and 

 more productive crops. Through experience and experimentation, the natural flooding and draining 

 cycle of the tides was recognized by growers as a means to enhance rice field irrigation. The onset 

 of tidal culture led to a doubling of worker productivity and, by the beginning of the 19th century, 



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