Waccamaw Watershed Academy
Outreach
Contact Us
- Susan Libes, Ph.D.
Program Director
Waccamaw Watershed Academy
Burroughs & Chapin Center for Marine and Wetland Studies
Coastal Carolina University
843-349-4028
susan@coastal.edu
The public outreach activities of the Waccamaw Watershed Academy meet numerous local requests for information and expertise in the fields of watershed and wetland science and resource management. These requests come from a diverse range of stakeholders, from community-based nonprofit groups and private developers to government agencies.
The Waccamaw Watershed Academy also seeks a leadership role in local planning efforts. This includes spearheading the development of a watershed management plan whose aim is to sustain the character of the Waccamaw watershed for future generations of North and South Carolina through the integration of a healthy economy and a healthy ecosystem. The US EPA advocates using the watershed approach in environmental management as it provides a framework for dealing with diverse and interconnected issues such as water quality, endangered species, water resource allocation, flood and drought management, and habitat restoration, etc. These issues are often intimately tied to maintaining or increasing businesses and jobs, sustainable agriculture and forest management, urban vitality and other quality of life and economic values. Of vital importance to continuing development of our tourism-based economy is adoption of Better Site Design strategies for efficiently using land while maintaining high aesthetic and environmental quality.
