Hilton Head Audubon’s Interview with Maria Whitehead, Senior Project Manager, Open Space Institute

As one of the most respected and effective advocates for conserving South Carolina land, Maria Whitehead is one of the leading conservationists in the country.

A native of Back Swamp, South Carolina, Maria graduated from Davidson College, then interned for the School for Field Studies in Australia. Afterward, she received a master’s degree in wildlife ecology and management from the University of Georgia. Working under Dr. Drew Lanham, she received a doctorate in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation from Clemson in 2003, focusing on avian ecology.

During the last decade, Maria has been instrumental in preserving over 50,000 acres of land across South Carolina and Georgia, first as a program manager with The Nature Conservancy and, since October 2016, as a senior project manager for the Open Space Institute (OSI), a national conservation organization based in New York State.

Since 2012 and in partnership with over 30 land conservation groups, OSI has conserved more than 35,000 acres in South Carolina. Over 99% of the land it protects will be publicly accessible, forever.

Q: What initiatives at OSI are you most involved in, and how do you select what conservation areas to focus on?

One of the things that I love about my job is how diverse the day-to-day work is.  Over the course of a workday, my focus may shift from varied conservation projects and initiatives like the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative, to community engagement strategies for a rural S.C. town, to complex conservation finance strategies. I get to touch much of the work that OSI does across the Southeast while working with a small but incredibly talented staff of six.

OSI’s mission is to protect scenic, natural, and historic landscapes to provide public enjoyment, conserve habitat and working lands, and sustain communities. That’s broad!  OSI’s recipe for project selection combines a keen grounding in science and knowledge of conservation threats and values, with an entrepreneurial spirit and a deep commitment to supporting the conservation priorities of our local, state, and federal agency partners.

In coastal South Carolina, we are fortunate to be part of the broader conservation community that has decades of experience in collaborative conservation.  OSI’s coastal S.C. projects include working to fill in federal proclamation boundaries for National Forests and Wildlife Refuges, and brand-new initiatives like protecting the upper Port Royal Sound watershed where OSI, TNC, and local partners including Beaufort County’s Open Land Trust hope to create a bridge between two conservation strongholds - the ACE Basin and the Savannah River.  

Generally, OSI’s conservation work encourages a new regard for conservation in the Southeast.  In addition to habitat and cultural resource protection, OSI focuses on improving access to nature-based recreation, especially in underserved communities, as well as land-based solutions to mitigate the impacts of climate change, and sustaining and improving rural economic opportunity.    

Q: You have identified South Carolina as one of the fastest-growing states in the Southeast. What impact of development here most concerns you?

Residential and commercial development of natural landscapes and family-owned farm and timberlands is one of the most pressing and consequential threats to conservation.  This type of land use change qualifies as outright habitat destruction and can result in immediate impacts to water quality, habitat connectivity, air quality, sound and light pollution… the list goes on.  Development also has impacts for tomorrow including loss of migration space and corridors needed for habitats and organisms to shift and move with rising sea levels and climate change. 

There is a growing understanding that about half of our lands and waters should be conserved so that humans and habitats can better adapt to climate change.  Meeting this goal would mean protecting more than 10 million acres of S.C.’s diverse habitats and landscapes.  Over the past several decades, S.C. has been a leader in landscape-scale conservation, protecting more than 3 million acres--roughly 15% of the state’s land--and helping to offset the 2.5 million acres that have been developed. 

“How?” you may ask, “will we keep pace with the threat of unchecked development?” There are three reasons to have hope: (1) S.C. is home to incredible, yet-to-be-protected natural habitats; (2) Many S.C. residents have a stewardship ethic and affinity for the natural world, what conservationist and author Aldo Leopold called a “land ethic; ”  and (3) S.C. has a connected and collaborative network of talented land protection professionals working on proposed conservation legislation and attracting political support.  Add to this list an unprecedented level of federal, state and local funding to advance these ambitious goals, and we’ve got an unstoppable platform!

Q: What are your concerns about the Lowcountry area that Hilton Head and the Beaufort County area impact?

S.C. is the 10^th fastest growing state in the U.S. and Beaufort County is the 8^th fastest growing County in S.C.  Pressure from this high growth has been sustained for over a decade.  The Town of Bluffton has grown from a 1 square mile footprint twenty years ago to a 54 square mile footprint today. 

Unlike many of our estuaries, the Port Royal Sound receives a trickle of freshwater and sediment from rivers like the Coosawatchie paired with the highest tidal amplitude in the state.  This combination allows salt-water habitats to reach much further inland, making Beaufort County home to over 50% of the salt marsh in S.C., almost one million acres. This expanse of high-quality marsh is considered some of the most diverse and intact, yet threatened, in the eastern US.  Everything that happens in Beaufort County should be viewed through the lens of protecting and sustaining this invaluable coastal habitat.  Stormwater can act as a pollutant to the fragile marsh system and can have an amplified impact because of the lack of freshwater flushing. Development along the marsh edge will prevent future upslope migration of marsh habitat with sea level rise.  

Where unchecked growth meets a natural gem, like the Port Royal Sound marshlands, we often find a populace that is ready to advance a conservation agenda.  Beaufort County has demonstrated this in the past with overwhelming support for the Rural and Critical Lands Program managed by the Open Land Trust and Beaufort County.

Q: How can we at Hilton Head Audubon advocate most effectively for the conservation of our threatened resources?

HH Audubon already does essential work in engaging and connecting its members to protected land and to conservation issues.  As renowned Senegalese forestry engineer Baba Dioum reminded us more than 50 years ago, “In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught.” HH Audubon’s commitment to providing experiences in the natural world, engaging the community with impassioned speakers, and encouraging a stewardship ethic is an essential role in S.C.’s conservation community!

Of course, it is important to support the ecosystem of conservation NGOs and agency partners that protect, advocate for, steward, and engage the broader community in conservation.  Many of S.C.’s successes are a direct result of our collaborative approach to conservation.  Audubon, Open Space Institute, Open Land Trust, Coastal Conservation League, Center for Heirs Property and Preservation, The Nature Conservancy, and the list goes on, are all part of a team that are integral to accomplishing this important work!

There are other exciting opportunities at hand: This November, Beaufort County voters have an opportunity to raise additional funds for open space and land protection.  The "Greenspace Penny" is question 1A and B on your ballot and if approved, would levy a sales tax for two years to raise $100 million for land conservation in the region. This money, 40% of which will be funded by tourism revenues, builds on existing conservation successes and will raise new money to protect the land we love, while creating spaces for young people, our future stewards, to connect with coastal habitats for the first time.