Waties Island - Ecological Significance

• Rarity. It is one of the last undeveloped barrier islands along the South Carolina coast. Almost all other such islands have been transformed into residential or commercial vacation areas.
• Erosion Protection. Barrier islands like Waties can help protect inland areas from the surges associated with hurricanes and other storms by absorbing some of the energy of the water.
• Wildlife Habitat. Waties provides critical and rapidly disappearing habitat for a number of rare, threatened, and endangered species. Those that have been observed on the island are listed below. Status information is from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's databases, especially the federal lists of endangered/threatened species.