Skip to main content
Skip to main menu Skip to spotlight region Skip to secondary region Skip to UGA region Skip to Tertiary region Skip to Quaternary region Skip to unit footer

Slideshow

NOAA Recommends Funding for Sapelo Oyster Reef Restoration Project

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

In late July, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association recommended funding for a new collaborative project aimed at reducing flooding around the Sapelo Island Gullah Geechee community known as Hog Hummock. Like many of Georgia’s barrier islands, Sapelo Island and it’s communities are susceptible to coastal flooding, sea-level rise, and other coastal hazards. With the proposed funding, the Hogg Hummock-based non-profit organization Save Our Legacy Ourself (SOLO) will lead the project with support from the University of Georgia’s Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems (IRIS) and Shell to Shore, an Athens based oyster shell recycling nonprofit. The project will build a living shoreline and oyster reef designed to bolster the marsh and channel flood waters away from the community. 

Maurice Bailey, the founder of SOLO, spoke on the need for the project. “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. 

Nik Heynen, Distinguished Research Professor of Geography, 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.” Information from this article was sourced from an IRIS press release. Read the full press release here!

Support us

We appreciate your financial support. Your gift is important to us and helps support critical opportunities for students and faculty alike, including lectures, travel support, and any number of educational events that augment the classroom experience. Click here to learn more about how to help us grow.

Every dollar given has a direct impact upon our students and faculty.