Coastal Kingdom, the television program hosted by Tony Mills and developed as a partnership between LCI and Beaufort County TV, was awarded 4 national “Telly” Awards this summer - Tellys are awarded to the best local, regional, and cable television programs. The first 3 episodes of the show are also now available to the public in a dvd box set.
This summer LCI, in partnership with Clemson’s Youth Leadership Institute, co-sponsored four workshops for teachers at Shanklin Elementary and Shell Point Elementary Schools. The workshops introduce teachers to a comprehensive curriculum for grades K-5 that emphasizes the connections that link the environment, economics, and history of land, with an emphasis on South Carolina and the United States. Support from two family foundations has provided a year of funding for a curriculum specialist who will work with Chris developing classroom lessons that support this curriculum.
LCI continues to work closely with its local partners. In June, we hosted a staff development day for SC Dept of Natural Resources personnel at Spring Island, during which time we shared information about our respective educational programs and how to expand our partnership. LCI staff also partnered with Coastal Discovery Museum at Honeyhorn to conduct summer programs on local wildlife and habitats for the public. Approximately 2000 people attended these educational programs.
Coming up in September the next Master Naturalist course begins with a full roster, and registration for classes beginning spring 2011 has already opened – MNI will meet on Mondays from Feb. 21-May 9 and MNII will meet on Feb. 22-24, Mar. 22-24, April 12-14, and May 3-5. Click here to sign up.
A limited number of box sets of Tony Mill's Coastal Kingdom TV series are now available for sale through Beaufort County. The set features the first 3 episodes of the show (Reptiles and Amphibians, Mammals, and the Salt Marsh), which were produced in partnership with Beaufort County TV, as well as a "special features" disk that includes extra footage and "critter bytes."
If you have not yet seen the show, it is designed to guide viewers through some of the most rich and diverse habitats of the Lowcountry. It's great for children and adults alike! Contact Rob Lewis (producer at Beaufort County TV) at 255-2037.
For this nature note...I thought it would be interesting to relate a story that happened to us a few weeks ago.
Paul Gravil and I were sitting in lawn chairs on the Spring Island boat ramp fishing. Paul had agreed to help me with some preliminary field work for a potential bonnethead shark study in Chechessee creek. We are interested in marking individuals to determine if the adult and juvenile sharks caught here exhibit a high degree of site fidelity (in other words do they come back to the same creeks and docks year after year). I realize that this description sounds suspiciously like fishing but hey, somebody has to collect the data.
It was a beautiful quiet evening with a nice cool breeze. The sun was dipping low in the sky giving the marsh banks a pleasant glow and turning the Spartina grass to a wonderful shade of green. Paul and I were sitting on the dock in lawn chairs facing the marsh eating leftover blue crabs that he and Lisa had prepared the night before. Dixie (the Gravil pooch) and Bill Allen's dog "DD" were also in attendance. We noticed a group of dolphins feeding in the mouth of the creek across from the dock. We could also hear the distinctive sounds of the dolphins splashing and breathing. Strand feeding on Spring Island is a pretty common occurrence but it is always a treat to see dolphins sliding up in shallow water and sweeping fish up on to the bank. The dogs got pretty excited about the spectacle and began to whine and pace up and down the dock. Fishing, good food, dogs, dolphins...now this is about as good as it gets!
I took a minute to change the bait on my hook and when I looked up, I noticed that the dolphins had moved much closer, swimming within 20 feet of the dock. One of the animals glanced up at us, did an extreme headfirst dive and disappeared under water. I assumed that the show was over and the dolphins had gone under the dock and up the creek. An instant later, a wall of water erupted up from the waterline and across the dock soaking Paul and narrowly missing me. Paul sprang to his feet just in time to see a dolphin fluke fling another twenty gallons of water across his chest and body. Talk about awesome! The splashing subsided and the dolphins disappeared leaving a wet dock and soaked Paul. For the record, neither me nor the dogs got a drop of water on us. Paul and I proceeded give each other high fives, recounting the adventure and laughing hysterically.
Weeks later, I am still not sure what caused that dolphin or dolphins to splash us. Maybe the dogs were actually the target and they leaped out of the way just in time. I guess there are a lot of possible explanations but I am convinced the dolphins accomplished exactly what they intended to do. I think they were playing with us, splashing water on Paul to see how we would react. Come to think of it, I am pretty sure that I heard the muffled, underwater sounds of dolphin chuckling right after it happened
Check out the video below of dolphins strand feeding off of Hilton Head.
One of LCI's longtime partners, Friends of the Rivers, has launched a new website to act as a clearinghouse for all things environmental in the South Carolina Lowcountry. The website provides links to news articles regarding the environment, education programs, information about our local ecology, and so much more. Called River Smart, the purpose of the site is to promote education, awareness and stewardship in collaboration with individuals, organizations, grassroots groups, land trusts, scientists, governments and non-governmental organizations.
We hope that you will take a moment to visit the site and check out the wealth of information it provides! It is a great resource for longtime residents of the area as well as newcomers, visitors, and local leaders.
This year promises to be a very productive year for LCI thanks, in large part, to the generous support of our donors. LCI's success at having a far reaching impact with limited staff is due to the collaborative relationships we have developed with Beaufort County, state agencies and other non-profits. We have four criteria that we use when evaluating possible projects and prioritizing them.
1. All projects must address one of LCI's four major goals and supporting strategies: (a) educate adults who have the ability to impact others through their careers or their volunteer efforts, (b) provide information not currently available that is needed to make important environmental policy decisions, (c) promote environmental education efforts that reach a large audience including schools, and (d) use Spring Island as a showcase for effective habitat management practices.
2. Projects that simultaneously address more than one of LCI's three goals are given higher priority.
3. Projects which have a majority of their funding from another source, but need LCI staff expertise or matching funds to be accomplished.
4. Projects that address an environmental issue that will influence a municipality or county's implementation of a law or ordinance that will improve environmental protection and stewardship.
This month's projects include:
Establishing an LCI stormwater management work group for local engineers and regulatory staff to help them improve their ability to better understand how to retain stormwater in ways that protect local water quality.
In partnership with SC DNR, LCI and volunteers from the LowCountry Master Naturalist Association began a 9 month citizen science project this month at Victoria Bluff Heritage Preserve (Bluffton). Participants will help catalog plant and animal species found in the preserve.
Don't miss it! The latest episode of Tony's TV show "Coastal Kingdom" is now showing on The County Channel.
If you are interested in participating in the Master Naturalist class this fall, sign ups start April 1st. The class will meet on Mondays from Sept. 20 through Dec. 6. Visit our website - http://www.lowcountryinstitute.org/ - to find out more about how to sign up or contact Kristen Mattson (987-2732).
Thanks again to all of you who made this work possible through your contributions!
