In collaboration with Daufuskie Island Community Farm and through a generous grant from Daufuskie Island Conservancy, Daufuskie Island Independent School students are playing a role in actively protecting Daufuskie’s shorelines. Building off of the research completed on Daufuskie’s shorelines that they published last year in their Daufuskie Shoreline GIS Story Map. DIIS students have been looking for ways to help slow erosion in problem areas.
From Seeds to Shoreline is a program sponsored through SC Department of Natural Resources and SC SEA Grant. It teaches students about saltwater ecosystems and the important roles that they play. Did you know that the salt marsh ecosystem is the most productive ecosystem on the planet, outranking even the rainforest?! The salt marsh ecosystem helps us in many ways. The following are just a few:
- Filtration of pollutants – a single adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day!
- Flood mitigation during storms & high tides – pluff mud acts as a sponge
- Shoreline stabilization by salt marsh grasses in conjunction with oyster reefs
- High storage and sequestration of carbon dioxide – sea grasses, mangroves, and salt marshes, capture and hold carbon at a much faster rate than forests.
The From Seeds to Shoreline program takes students and educators through the entire life cycle of Spartina alterniflora and teaches them how to collect, germinate, and cultivate spartina so it can mature to the point of transplanting in the marshes. Planting spartina in areas struggling with erosion can help bind sediment together and reduce wave energy. In this way, spartina is highly effective in helping control coastal erosion.
Daufuskie Island Independent School students have been watching the marshes all fall in their Marine Science class. In November the class went and collected spartina seeds from several locations around the island. After storing them in refrigerators for the last couple of months to simulate the cold season, they are now preparing to germinate and cultivate the seeds.
Students help build a gardening table for growing seedings.
In this next stage of cultivation, Daufuskie Island Community Farm managers, Iva and Josh Steffans, have taken students under their wing. Generously loaning us space in one of their hoop houses, Iva and Josh have been helping students prepare the space for growing the germinated seeds. Under Mr. Steffan’s direction, students built a gardening table for the seeds to grow on. “I appreciated the chance to be outdoors learning how to build something useful,” sixth grader Vera Lundgren said. “It was a lot of fun and now I know how to use a drill without stripping a screw!”
Over the next few months students will be caring for their spartina seeds, helping them grow, and planning for our Community Planting Day in May. It will be an opportunity for youth and adults to work together to care for our shorelines. Stay tuned for more information about Community Planting Day in the spring! DIIS would like to thank Daufuskie Island Community Farm and Daufuskie Island Conservancy for making this type of environmental learning possible.
