Partners

The CWSEC education providers represent various academic, non-profit, and state organizations that conduct training and education programs throughout the region. While they operate in many areas, much of the work of the education providers is focused on Georgetown and Horry Counties. Providers are able to design specific training and education programs for member municipalities within these counties in addition to their other programs which further the overall goals of promoting wise coastal resource use, environmental awareness, and responsible decision making.

Clemson Carolina Clear

Clemson Public Service Activities are part of the larger university’s goal of improving the quality of life for South Carolina citizens through teaching, research and outreach. One such outreach program, Carolina Clear, informs and educates communities about water quality, water quantity, and the cumulative effects of stormwater. Carolina Clear addresses the special significance of South Carolina’s water resources, and the role they play in the state’s economy, environmental health and overall quality of life.

As a CWSEC Education Provider, Clemson’s Carolina Clear conducts various homeowner programs such as “Carolina Yards and Neighborhoods” for sustainable landscaping and “Green Solutions to Pollution” for home site stormwater management. Local extension agents develop and implement these programs, as well as provide public service announcements and other means of informing and educating local citizens.

Coastal Carolina University Waccamaw Watershed Academy

The mission of the WWA, under CCU’s Center for Marine and Wetland Studies, is to deliver educational, research, and public outreach services to the university and the local region in order to meet local needs for expertise in watershed and wetland science and management.

The WWA conducts water quality and illicit discharge research, monitoring and detection through volunteer- and faculty-based programs. The WWA serves local educational needs through undergraduate and master’s programs in marine and wetland studies, continuing education programs that provide training and credits to local professionals such as schoolteachers, and through informal education programs done in conjunction with county school districts. They also work with local decision-makers to help develop and implement watershed management plans.

Murrells Inlet 2020

Murrells Inlet 2020 is a nonprofit, community revitalization group established in 1997 with the goal of making the historic fishing village of Murrells Inlet, South Carolina a more enjoyable place to live, work and visit. The group focuses both on the economic health of its tourism industry and well-being of its businesses, and the environmental health of its number one asset, the Murrells Inlet salt marsh.

MI 2020 participates in the CWSEC through its focus on the Inlet’s volunteer water quality monitoring program, providing education to school children, residents and visitors on ways to protect the saltmarsh from the effects of polluted runoff, and hosting community clean-ups and recycling programs to keep the Inlet free of trash.

North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR)

Coastal Training Program

The Coastal Training Program, CTP, is a national initiative among the NERRs to provide science-based information, tools, and training to coastal decision makers in order to foster stewardship of coastal resources.

The CTP serves the CWSEC by offering training workshops, hands-on demonstrations and field visits, and technical assistance to help decision makers implement information learned through training. Program topics vary widely, from low impact development to developing model stormwater ordinances, but all relate to more responsible and sustainable coastal living and growth.

Public Education Program

The Public Education Program focuses on K-12 and general public environmental education with an emphasis on coastal and estuarine ecology and watershed concepts. In addition to scheduled programs, the PEP also creates educational displays for local events such as the Winyah Bay Heritage Festival.

The Education Coordinator conducts formal programs in classrooms and with local community groups. In addition, the PEP offers field trips–such as kayak tours–and hands-on learning experiences–such as The Fishes of North Inlet–on over 12,000 acres of tidal marshes, wetlands, and coastal forests at the North Inlet-Winyah Bay Reserve.

South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium

The South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium is a state agency that, through a program of research, education, extension, and training, enhances economic opportunities and conservation of coastal and marine resources for South Carolina citizens.

The Sea Grant Consortium serves the CWSEC by conducting NEMO training–Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials–which is a program for local land use officials that addresses the relationship of land use to natural resource protection.

Winyah Rivers Foundation Waccamaw Riverkeeper® Program

The mission of the Winyah Rivers Alliance is to protect, preserve, monitor and revitalize the health of the lands and waters of the greater Winyah Bay watershed, focusing on local activism through the Waccamaw Riverkeeper® program. The Riverkeeper is responsible for various watershed education displays and programs at local conferences, workshops and festivals such as the Wooden Boat Show, Loris Bog Off and Swamp Fest. The Riverkeeper also sponsors beach and river clean-ups and co-coordinates the volunteer water quality monitoring program with the Waccamaw Watershed Academy.