ATHENS, GA – A new project seeks to join Sapelo Island’s Saltwater Geechee community and public entities in a collaborative effort to reduce flooding through oyster reef restoration. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association recommended the project, which is a collaboration between the University of Georgia’s Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems, Save Our Legacy Ourself, and Shell to Shore, for funding last week.  

Sea level rise and other coastal hazards are an increasing problem along the Georgia coast. Water levels have already risen by over a foot in the last 100 years, and they are projected to continue rising, exacerbating issues like “sunny-day” flooding and further exposing communities and ecosystems to damage from severe weather.  

The Gullah Geechee community on Sapelo Island, also known as Hogg Hummock, is one of those communities. This project focuses specifically on protecting and restoring the wetlands and oyster reefs surrounding their land.   

With the proposed funding, the Hogg Hummock-based non-profit organization Save Our Legacy Ourself (SOLO) will lead the way with their in-depth local knowledge of the place, while UGA’s researchers will provide engineering and natural infrastructure know-how.  

Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems Associate Director of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Brock Woodson, spoke to the benefits of the collaboration.  

“Working with the community of Hogg Hummock will allow our team to develop innovative solutions to sea level rise and increased flooding while also restoring oyster habitat along the coast,” Woodson said. “This project represents the needed collaboration between local communities and public entities to advance coastal climate resilience.” 

The team has proposed three different project phases: First they’ll put together a Comprehensive Habitat Restoration Plan (CHRP), which will combine a stakeholder assessment and a study to ensure that flood protection and other benefits will be improved through oyster reef restoration; second, they’ll implement the CHRP by constructing and restoring oyster reefs in the marsh next to Hog Hummock; finally, they will monitor the reef and marsh to see how flood reductions and other benefits perform over time.  

This effort is being facilitated by SOLO, an organization founded by Maurice Bailey, who was inspired by his mother, Mrs. Cornelia Walker Bailey, to preserve their Saltwater Geechee heritage through agricultural and environmental reform.  

Bailey spoke to the need for the project and his hope for how it will improve the resilience of his community. “One of our challenges, becoming more noticeable yearly, is the flooding throughout the community in both homes and farmed land. With climate changes, sea level rise, and an unkept maze of historical ditches, these problems will only become more severe until the lands are unusable,” Bailey said.  

He also explained how the project will help create a more resilient community in more ways than just reducing risk from climate change—the project will employ community members both during the project and after for long-term monitoring of the marsh’s health and performance.  

“This project brings together community nonprofits SOLO and Shell to Shore (Athens), with UGA to create a project that supports community-driven concerns with scientific analysis to identify and implement solutions, creating a more climate resilient Hogg Hummock community now and in the future.  The fiscal support this proposed project would provide helps invest in the community at the local level by supporting employment and internship opportunities. Financial investment, coupled with local involvement, is one of the strongest and most lasting ways to support building a resilient community.” 

The project proposal includes a tidy list of action items that will restore the functioning of Big Hole marsh, improve habitat for economically important species, and reduce flood risk to the nearby community.   

Building a living shoreline and oyster reefs designed to channel flood waters away from the community, bolstering the marsh with a technique called “thin layer placement,” which adds sediment to the area, to further reduce flooding, and installation of tide gates are just a few items on the list.  

The oyster reefs will be constructed with the help of Shell to Shore, an organization that recycles oyster shells from restaurants throughout Georgia to help restore oyster reefs and provide all the benefits of erosion mitigation, and flood risk and storm surge reduction.  

“Since an initial partnership with Seabear Oyster Bar in Athens, Georgia, Shell to Shore has collected over 201390 pounds of oyster shell,” said Shell to Shore president, Hunt Revell. “Working with our partner Save Our Legacy Ourself (SOLO) with the generous support of NOAA and UGA and a broad base of partner networks and volunteer support, Shell to Shore hopes to build on past coastal resiliency work done on Sapelo Island by The Nature Conservancy, DNR and UGA to keep Georgia active and innovative in preparing our most vulnerable communities against the effects of climate change.” 

Also on the potential list of natural infrastructure upgrades is the removal of dikes, which will allow the marsh to reconnect and provide enhanced protective benefits, converting already flooded-areas to pasture planted with salt-tolerant species to allow room for the marsh to migrate, and finally, planting native species in adjacent forest.  

Collectively, these projects will strengthen the Hogg Hummock community against climate change and restore the many benefits historically provided by Big Hole marsh. Each step will also serve as an important template for practitioners on how to work closely with coastal communities to restore habitat and reduce risks from sea-level rise for a more resilient nation.  

Nik Heynen, who is a Distinguished Research Professor in UGA’s Department of Geography and co-director of UGA’s Cornelia Walker Bailey Program on Land and Agriculture, summed up the project’s capacity to simultaneously protect the community while providing an important learning opportunity for University of Georgia faculty and students.  

“At this time when the Saltwater Geechee community is being threatened by development and sea level rise, following Geechee leadership and knowledge about how to combat environmental problems in Hogg Hummock is vitally important for scientists and students from the state’s largest public university.” 

Caption for feature image: Shell to Shore’s Shell Recycling Coordinator, Malcolm Provost, assessing possible restoration sites in Sapelo Island’s Big Hole Marsh.