By Edgar Miller, Yadkin Riverkeeper
The recent meeting of Waterkeepers Carolina (our network of NC & SC waterkeepers) in Conway, SC, afforded me the opportunity to visit Georgetown, SC, where the Yadkin Pee Dee and Waccamaw Rivers join to form Winyah Bay before meetings the Atlantic Ocean. I had never been to Georgetown or the mouth of the Rivers at Winyah Bay, despite many years of traveling with my family to nearby Myrtle Beach as a kid. Who knew we were just following the general route of the Yadkin Pee Dee River from central NC to the SC coast.
Crossing the Highway 17 Bridge just north of Georgetown, SC looking up the Great Pee Dee River before its confluence with the Waccamaw River to form Winyah Bay.
For me this was a business trip to network and share information with my waterkeeper colleagues from across the Carolinas. We are fortunate to have 15, soon to be 16, waterkeeper organizations in the Carolinas. It makes sense as we have many rivers and a lot of water to protect. Given the time of year, it was also an opportunity for a mini-family vacation since my two daughters, Avalon and Jianna, were both home for spring break from NC State and UNC-Chapel respectively. It is always great to have family willing to accompany you on your business travels, but in addition to wanting to visit attractions with them from my boyhood trips to the area, like Brookgreen Gardens and Murrell’s Inlet, I was on a personal pilgrimage to journey to the mouth of the River I have spent most of my adult life protecting in one way or another. I was on a pilgrimage to find the wisdom of the Oracle of Georgetown in the form of the mouth of the Yadkin Pee Dee River.
Yadkin Riverkeeper Edgar Miller by the vast salt marshes surrounding Winyah Bay.
I learned many lessons in my brief time with the Oracle, the first of which was that our efforts at Yadkin Riverkeeper are only a small part of what is needed to protect this immense watershed, which drains more than 17,000 square miles of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. I felt humbled to realize we are just a portion of this very big and complex watershed, which is the third largest in the eastern United States.
Yadkin Pee Dee watershed map at the excellent South Carolina Maritime Museum, founded by Lexington, NC native, the late Sid Hood.
Secondly and perhaps most profoundly, I was grateful to see projects similar to our efforts to protect and restore the Yadkin River are going on throughout the larger watershed. During my short visit to Georgetown’s lovely East Bay Park, I saw families enjoying the water, conservation workers installing a shoreline restoration project and an awesome kayak access area, as well as “Beware of Alligator signs, which we don’t see much of in the upper basin.
No explanation needed. We did see one baby alligator along the Georgetown docks.
Severe shoreline erosion along East Bay Park in Georgetown. The pylons have been placed to hold bamboo and other natural materials to serve as a natural barrier to wave erosion.
Ongoing shoreline restoration at Georgetown’s East Bay Park including oyster bed cages.
Conservation workers under contract with The Nature Conservancy to install shoreline protection measures.
Bamboo and other natural materials being used in the shoreline restoration project.
Very nice kayak launch area.
State of the art kayak put in at East Bay Kayak Launch.
Overlooking the waters of Winyah Bay and contemplating the journey of the water from the headwaters of the Yadkin River along the Blue Ridge mountains, nearly 500 river miles away.
The Oracle of Georgetown is thriving, and it has many hands helping make sure it remains so in the future. However, it also warned me of the coming storm of regulatory roll backs, neglect, arrogance and greed that threaten the very life force of our region. As the old saying goes, “…there’s always someone downstream,” or at least in most cases, which is a double-edged sword. Our efforts can be undone by pollution down river and vice versa. If we don’t do our job folks down river won’t have a chance. Fortunately, YRK is as strong as it has ever been and I am encouraged and hopeful about the next generation of waterkeepers emerging who understand the importance of clean water to our very existence.
Current and future waterkeepers of the Carolinas along the Waccamaw River, including YRK’s Riverkeeper assistant/watershed protection specialist, Nicole Eastman (third from the left), and YRK’s water quality advocate, Stephanie Stephens (first on the right), who has recently been named as the Deep River Riverkeeper.
“The River it flows, it flows to the sea. Wherever that River flows, that’s where I want to be.”
- “Ballad of the Easy Rider,” by Roger McGuinn