Emerging threats to the Francis Marion National Forest lay at the end of a path that divides pines sprouted in the bygone-era of large-scale tree farming from ancient hardwoods planted by Mother Nature.
Alton “Tripp” Gaskins, a U.S. Forest Service tree specialist, hiked to the end of the old path where dry ground turns to moist soil and small ponds near the Wando River in the Huger area. From there, he pointed to the surrounding “ghost forest” of dying or dead trees. They have succumbed to relentless seawater.
In this area where timber companies still harvest trees for lumber, the once lush evergreens are now sparse with yellowing crowns. On the old-growth side, sturdy maple and black gum have shed green leaves and morphed into mammoth pencil-like sticks silhouetted against the morning sky.
Gaskins first saw these changes in July when satellite images revealed a sliver of yellow on the ocean side of the 260,000-acre forest.
“I have seen trees that have been dead for years,” said Gaskins, who has 14 years of service with the agency. “It has been happening slowly over time, but for whatever reason, over the last year or two, it has sped up to where you can visually see the spread.
“The environmental changes are happening quicker in this area due to the crumbling infrastructure of dikes and ditches put in place by the industrial timber companies,” Gaskins said. The decaying infrastructure allows seawater to flow fast into that portion of the forest, he explained.
The strip of yellow shows where the forest is being stressed under salt water pushed inland by more intense storms and rising ocean levels, he said as he tromped over a golden carpet of fallen leaves and brittle twigs.
Change is coming fast
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts that sea levels along the U.S. coastline will rise in the next three decades by 10 inches to a foot.
For South Carolina’s coastline, the prediction warns that sea levels will increase by slightly more than two feet by the end of the century.
When saltwater intrusion stresses pine trees, they become susceptible to a fatal pine beetle infestation, Gaskins said. The combined punch of pine beetles and seawater accelerates a tree’s death.
What’s happening in the forest is a harbinger of how sea level rise will ultimately affect where humans live and how animals, large and small, will be affected by the changing ecology, scientists said. Not much can be done to stop the rise immediately, but its impact can be lessened, they said.
Mažeika Patricio Sulliván, a professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation and director of the Baruch Institute for Coastal Ecology and Forest Science at Clemson University, said it is imperative to protect the South Carolina coastal region, a mosaic of tidal creeks, rivers, sea islands, marshes and wetlands, that stands as a buffer between the ocean and high ground. As a nursery for aquatic life and migratory birds, it also supports the state’s tourism industry, he said.
Marshes can adapt overtime, but sea level rise is happening too fast and, when combined with coastal development, marshes can’t keep up, said Sullivan, who researches aquatic ecosystems. “The great example of saltwater intrusion is the ghost forest,” he noted.
As scientists and policymakers consider the impacts of saltwater intrusion “we should start to think of the scope of those impacts. It ranges from trees to habitat for birds to aquatic organisms,” he said. “The more natural wetlands we can protect, the more the systems will be buffered against that rise. There is going to be change, but can we minimize that change and help to slow it down?”
A plan to save the forest
A management plan for the Francis Marion National Forest, developed in 2017, calls for the restoration of the natural native ecosystems with an emphasis on longleaf pine, Gaskins said. The service has the potential to plant about 40,000 acres of longleaf pine that was once the predominant tree in the forest, he said. “We could start logging this area before the spring. The restoration could start in the next year or two.”
Longleaf pine lives longer and allows more sunlight to the forest floor, and it is resistant to fire. The fast-growing loblolly was once the tree of choice for timber companies, he added.
If left alone, pine beetles will spread “to private property and destroy private timber,” he said. “We have the potential to use this opportunity to restore the native swamp and marshland.” The untouched hardwoods throughout the forest, he said, is pristine and looks like the time centuries ago when Lowcountry forests were cleared for rice cultivation.
The Baruch Institute uses its extension service to educate people about ecological practices to heal the environment, Sullivan said. The choices range from rain gardens to beach erosion protection. “As scientists, we can help provide data and solutions, but people have to be our advocates to implement that. It is all about how we think about protecting critical places,” he said.
New approaches
As part of its efforts to help nonprofit groups carry out habitat enhancement that benefit marine life, NOAA has a new grant program that focuses on climate impacts, said Howard Schnabolk, a habitat restoration specialist with the agency’s fisheries restoration center in Charleston.
The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor is one of several groups around the country that has received NOAA grants for underserved communities to help develop environmental protection projects and hire the staff to do the work, he said.
The corridor has received a $536,000 three-year grant to support two new staff positions — a resilience associate and a climate advocate, he said. The corridor will also share a $499,000 grant with two North Carolina coastal counties. In South Carolina, the corridor will study environmental impacts of sea level rise in the Awendaw and McClellanville, Schnabolk said.
He added the new positions will help build relationships between restoration organizations and Gullah Geechee communities to identify the resilience priorities of community members, and form local advisory committees to support future restoration efforts.
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