The South Carolina Beach Advocates, an organization of coastal communities that works with government agencies and legislators to promote the economic and storm protection benefits of the Palmetto State’s beaches, held its ninth annual meeting on the Isle of Palms Jan. 30 through Feb. 1.
SCBA’s mission is to advocate for the preservation of South Carolina’s beaches.
This was SCBA’s best-attended meeting to date, with nearly 200 participants, including government officials and staff, engineers, scientists and contractors. Topics this year included coastal resilience planning, beach management opportunities and state and federal programs and policies. Among the key speakers were U.S. Rep Nancy Mace; Gov. Henry McMaster; Brig. Gen. Daniel H. Hibner of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Duane Parrish, director of the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism; Alex Butler, resilience planning director for the South Carolina Office of Resilience; and Elizabeth von Kolnitz, chief of SCDHEC-OCRM.
In addition, the Advocates are working with state elected officials to establish a dedicated state funding source for beach preservation. They include State Sen. Chip Campsen and State Reps. Lee Hewitt, Spencer Wetmore, Joe Bustos, Case Brittain and Matt Leber.
