ACE Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve (Charleston, SC)
Below are some interview questions that didn't make it into a podcast episode but still highlight some of the great work of the NERRS! The link to the reserve website is listed at the bottom of this page for further reading.
(interviewing Julie Binz, Reserve Manager)
The ACE Basin NERR is located on one of the largest undeveloped estuaries on the East Coast. How does the reserve work in partnership with organizations like the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources to manage such an expansive reserve?
Julie: Yeah, yeah, there is a lot of land and a lot of protected land which is a wonderful thing. We, since the National Estuarine Research Reserves are a partnership between NOAA, a federal agency, and a state entity, we are partnered with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. So, all of us that work here are DNR employees. So, we're very much entwined. We also have other DNR protected properties in and around the NERR, different wildlife management areas. We have private landowners that have chosen to conserve their land into the future. We have federal national wildlife refuges in our area and the reserve and so really, we have nonprofits like the Nature Conservancy and Ducks Unlimited. So, there's many different organizations and even individuals that all work together to protect this huge amount of land in our region.
The "Outside In" series is a virtual education program featuring presentations from community experts as well as SCDNR staff. What topics have been covered in recent talks?
Julie: That has been a really fun series to start. We started that ... we always had done public programs for adults and people of all ages that were of course, in person and in the field. But then COVID really prevented that from happening at first, so our ever, ever innovative educators came up with the "Outside In" webinar series and it has been so much fun. We have gotten to speak to so many different people and researchers about what they study and what they work on around the reserve, around coastal South Carolina, and just hear about really interesting projects, and we've been able to reach people that would have never really gone into the reserves. So, it's been a great way to expand our access and let more people learn about the things going on in this area if they can't physically get here. So that has been really fun. We've got ... I don't know about a favorite. We've covered so many different topics. Our "Day in the Life of Marine Biologist" one is really fun, talking to three different biologists, how they ended up doing this work and what they like about it day to day... "Horseshoe Crabs" is always a really interesting one, and then our geology, our coastal geology is very interesting and all of these people are so interesting because they care so much about what they do and they're so into their work.
The ACE Basin reserve gets lots of visitors every year. How can listeners help support and protect the reserves if they come pay visit? Are there any community science projects that students can participate in?
Julie: Yeah, we have some parts of our reserves that are very, very remote and we don't have many visitors and those places are great to go somewhere where no one else will be around and there's no lights at night and things like that. We have camping experiences on Fenwick Island that are very remote in that way. Then we have other other areas that are much more easily accessible. Botany Bay is one of our highly visited sites, we've got over 100,000 people that come here a year, so you have walkable access to the beach, you go through salt marshes. So that's a great day out and a great place to explore. There's lots of history of humans using the area over the years. Ways that people can help protect the reserve? If you do come visit you definitely want you to come visit, we definitely want you to share your experience with others and let everyone else know what you thought about the place, but then also, please remember to try and minimize your impact on the environment. We're trying to balance people being there and enjoying it but also allowing a safe space for wildlife and nice healthy habitat. So if there are signs or rules, please make sure you're following them. Don't go past the shorebird signs. When the shorebirds are nesting, don't bring dogs if it says no dogs, all of those things, all the rules are easily displayed, easy to find on the website, and we just ask that people minimize their impact and leave no trace when you're enjoying these places.
So, 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the South Carolina NERRs. If there was an ACE Basin highlight reel, what accomplishments would be featured?
Julie: Yes, we're very excited about this 30th anniversary and we plan to have a celebration in the fall to coincide with national estuaries week in September. Highlight reel, that's really hard because I think that all the work we do is interesting and fun, but if I had to kind of try to boil it down with our greatest accomplishments are, I think the way that our staff and the way that this place connects to our local communities is one of the things we do really well. We work very hard to work with our community members. We have lots of different small communities around the reserve, more rural communities, but then on either end, we have Charleston and Beaufort, which are much larger communities that are turning into urban and suburban communities. So we work really well to maintain that relationship with all of those communities that affect our reserves and affect our watershed. Work with them towards the smartest solutions to minimize impact on our water quality and on our environment as we develop and get more populated. We've done projects like low impact development manuals to help with this. Again, our living shorelines work. We've always had a strong connection with the local schools and bringing students out on boats and to experience the salt marsh and the estuary and really help us take care of it. And so really, I think those are one of our biggest accomplishments, that we really, really work to not kind of tell the communities around us what to do, right? We work with them so that we all can come up with solutions together that are going to minimize our impact.
That's incredible how y'all are able to keep the community involved and through that foster stewardship in your local community and ownership over the science that you're doing at the reserve. With the community, what volunteer and internship opportunities are available at the reserve?
Julie: Yeah, we have a very strong volunteer program at Botany Bay. As I mentioned before, this is one of our highly visited sites. We have a large group of volunteers that work at that site, and they do everything from helping the land managers maintain the land for wildlife, to helping educate visitors when they come to the beach about what they're seeing, or what shells they're looking at. All types of things to enhance the visitor experience and also help the property. So, Botany Bay is a great place to volunteer. We did start an internship program and so we've had interns on and off, but we're trying to formalize that so that we can every year have a group of interns work with us over the summer and that's been really fun this year, they're getting all types of experiences, education and research and stewardship and all the different things that we do. We also have some stewardship longer-term volunteer opportunities. As I mentioned before, the "From Seeds to Shoreline" program, this was started by our South Carolina SeaGrant, but we have been partnered with them since the beginning. It's over 10 years old. It originally was in schools for teachers and students to grow marsh grass in the classroom and then plant it in erosional areas of marsh, but recently we have expanded it to be a community program. So not only can people of all ages participate in that program, not just students, but then we added a living shoreline monitoring aspect to it so now those people can continue and not only help with the restoration part, but they can help with the scientific monitoring on how that site is doing afterwards. So, it's kind of like they can continue their relationship with that site into the future. So that's been really fun.
What do you think makes the ACE Basin NERR different from other National Estuarine Research Reserves?
Julie: I don't know if this is different from a lot of other reserves, but I do think it makes the ACE Basin a special place in that while it is largely undeveloped, it is not untouched by people. We have had people here for 1000s of years and they've been shaping the land and the water and the water and land have been shaping them and how they live. So we have just amazing stories about people, how they've survived in this place for so long and overcome storms and development and hardship and living in some of these really remote places. One of the islands that we now take care of had people living on it with no bridge to it, no electricity, no plumbing until the 1960s or 70s, and I mean it's just remarkable. They would walk their cows over the river, swim them to market...these people lived in this place and used the land in many, many different ways at the time.
Do you have a favorite thing about the reserve or maybe a favorite ACE Basin memory? We're asking the hard-hitting questions here.
Julie: Yeah. I don't know. I don't know that I have a favorite thing. But I like that I can go out there at any time of year and see new things that I've not seen before. I love the different seasons and the way it changes throughout the seasons. And you may think in the south "oh, it's just like hot all the time and it doesn't really change", but it really does and there is a fall with color in the salt marsh. It's just in the marsh grass, not in the trees necessarily. And you can see the grass change over time and the species that you see change over time and so I just like that. I like that sometimes it's very cold out there with the wind coming off the water and the water is rough, and sometimes it's completely calm, a sheet of glass almost. So, it's just always changing. It's so calming for me to be out there away from noise, away from other people. And so, I guess that's my favorite thing about it.
As a former Education Coordinator, do you have a favorite program that the reserve offers its guests?
Julie: Our most popular program by far is our program aboard our Discovery vessel. Not a lot of people have a boat or friends with boats or access to get on the water. Our programs are free. And so, we take 1000s of people, not just students but people of all ages, out down the Ashepoo River or up the Edisto River so they really can see the ACE Basin and wind through the waterways and the marshes and see the hammock islands. We mimic a lot of the monitoring methods that our researchers do so they really can get a hands-on experience of what it's like to be a marine biologist: we measure the water quality, we pull up a net so that we can really see what's going on under the water. And that's always fun. We don't know what we're going to pull up, we see different things, we see all types of really cool things come up in the net and it's really fun to experience that with people. It's especially fun to experience that with kids. And it's especially fun to experience that with people that have never been out before to just be on the water with them.
Lastly, what advice do you have for aspiring scientists?
Julie: I would say continue to keep that very basic feeling of curiosity. Continue to be curious about what you're seeing and about what you're learning about. Think about ways to solve problems. I always think it's remarkable...some of the scientists that we work with are just real problem solvers. The things they want to study and the things they want to learn about, it hasn't been done before. There is no way to do it. There's not a you know, recipe book. They have to create tools that don't exist because there is no way to do it yet and they have to really think and problem solve at how to figure out a thing or learn about a certain phenomenon happening and I really like that. I really like that curiosity and problem solving. I think those are two really valuable skills for scientists, but really for anybody in life, and once you are a scientist and you have all this type of really great information, learn how to communicate effectively. Speak to people that are nonscientists about it often and everywhere. Find a way to make your work relatable to other people and why they should care.
(interviewing Julie Binz, Reserve Manager)
The ACE Basin NERR is located on one of the largest undeveloped estuaries on the East Coast. How does the reserve work in partnership with organizations like the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources to manage such an expansive reserve?
Julie: Yeah, yeah, there is a lot of land and a lot of protected land which is a wonderful thing. We, since the National Estuarine Research Reserves are a partnership between NOAA, a federal agency, and a state entity, we are partnered with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. So, all of us that work here are DNR employees. So, we're very much entwined. We also have other DNR protected properties in and around the NERR, different wildlife management areas. We have private landowners that have chosen to conserve their land into the future. We have federal national wildlife refuges in our area and the reserve and so really, we have nonprofits like the Nature Conservancy and Ducks Unlimited. So, there's many different organizations and even individuals that all work together to protect this huge amount of land in our region.
The "Outside In" series is a virtual education program featuring presentations from community experts as well as SCDNR staff. What topics have been covered in recent talks?
Julie: That has been a really fun series to start. We started that ... we always had done public programs for adults and people of all ages that were of course, in person and in the field. But then COVID really prevented that from happening at first, so our ever, ever innovative educators came up with the "Outside In" webinar series and it has been so much fun. We have gotten to speak to so many different people and researchers about what they study and what they work on around the reserve, around coastal South Carolina, and just hear about really interesting projects, and we've been able to reach people that would have never really gone into the reserves. So, it's been a great way to expand our access and let more people learn about the things going on in this area if they can't physically get here. So that has been really fun. We've got ... I don't know about a favorite. We've covered so many different topics. Our "Day in the Life of Marine Biologist" one is really fun, talking to three different biologists, how they ended up doing this work and what they like about it day to day... "Horseshoe Crabs" is always a really interesting one, and then our geology, our coastal geology is very interesting and all of these people are so interesting because they care so much about what they do and they're so into their work.
The ACE Basin reserve gets lots of visitors every year. How can listeners help support and protect the reserves if they come pay visit? Are there any community science projects that students can participate in?
Julie: Yeah, we have some parts of our reserves that are very, very remote and we don't have many visitors and those places are great to go somewhere where no one else will be around and there's no lights at night and things like that. We have camping experiences on Fenwick Island that are very remote in that way. Then we have other other areas that are much more easily accessible. Botany Bay is one of our highly visited sites, we've got over 100,000 people that come here a year, so you have walkable access to the beach, you go through salt marshes. So that's a great day out and a great place to explore. There's lots of history of humans using the area over the years. Ways that people can help protect the reserve? If you do come visit you definitely want you to come visit, we definitely want you to share your experience with others and let everyone else know what you thought about the place, but then also, please remember to try and minimize your impact on the environment. We're trying to balance people being there and enjoying it but also allowing a safe space for wildlife and nice healthy habitat. So if there are signs or rules, please make sure you're following them. Don't go past the shorebird signs. When the shorebirds are nesting, don't bring dogs if it says no dogs, all of those things, all the rules are easily displayed, easy to find on the website, and we just ask that people minimize their impact and leave no trace when you're enjoying these places.
So, 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the South Carolina NERRs. If there was an ACE Basin highlight reel, what accomplishments would be featured?
Julie: Yes, we're very excited about this 30th anniversary and we plan to have a celebration in the fall to coincide with national estuaries week in September. Highlight reel, that's really hard because I think that all the work we do is interesting and fun, but if I had to kind of try to boil it down with our greatest accomplishments are, I think the way that our staff and the way that this place connects to our local communities is one of the things we do really well. We work very hard to work with our community members. We have lots of different small communities around the reserve, more rural communities, but then on either end, we have Charleston and Beaufort, which are much larger communities that are turning into urban and suburban communities. So we work really well to maintain that relationship with all of those communities that affect our reserves and affect our watershed. Work with them towards the smartest solutions to minimize impact on our water quality and on our environment as we develop and get more populated. We've done projects like low impact development manuals to help with this. Again, our living shorelines work. We've always had a strong connection with the local schools and bringing students out on boats and to experience the salt marsh and the estuary and really help us take care of it. And so really, I think those are one of our biggest accomplishments, that we really, really work to not kind of tell the communities around us what to do, right? We work with them so that we all can come up with solutions together that are going to minimize our impact.
That's incredible how y'all are able to keep the community involved and through that foster stewardship in your local community and ownership over the science that you're doing at the reserve. With the community, what volunteer and internship opportunities are available at the reserve?
Julie: Yeah, we have a very strong volunteer program at Botany Bay. As I mentioned before, this is one of our highly visited sites. We have a large group of volunteers that work at that site, and they do everything from helping the land managers maintain the land for wildlife, to helping educate visitors when they come to the beach about what they're seeing, or what shells they're looking at. All types of things to enhance the visitor experience and also help the property. So, Botany Bay is a great place to volunteer. We did start an internship program and so we've had interns on and off, but we're trying to formalize that so that we can every year have a group of interns work with us over the summer and that's been really fun this year, they're getting all types of experiences, education and research and stewardship and all the different things that we do. We also have some stewardship longer-term volunteer opportunities. As I mentioned before, the "From Seeds to Shoreline" program, this was started by our South Carolina SeaGrant, but we have been partnered with them since the beginning. It's over 10 years old. It originally was in schools for teachers and students to grow marsh grass in the classroom and then plant it in erosional areas of marsh, but recently we have expanded it to be a community program. So not only can people of all ages participate in that program, not just students, but then we added a living shoreline monitoring aspect to it so now those people can continue and not only help with the restoration part, but they can help with the scientific monitoring on how that site is doing afterwards. So, it's kind of like they can continue their relationship with that site into the future. So that's been really fun.
What do you think makes the ACE Basin NERR different from other National Estuarine Research Reserves?
Julie: I don't know if this is different from a lot of other reserves, but I do think it makes the ACE Basin a special place in that while it is largely undeveloped, it is not untouched by people. We have had people here for 1000s of years and they've been shaping the land and the water and the water and land have been shaping them and how they live. So we have just amazing stories about people, how they've survived in this place for so long and overcome storms and development and hardship and living in some of these really remote places. One of the islands that we now take care of had people living on it with no bridge to it, no electricity, no plumbing until the 1960s or 70s, and I mean it's just remarkable. They would walk their cows over the river, swim them to market...these people lived in this place and used the land in many, many different ways at the time.
Do you have a favorite thing about the reserve or maybe a favorite ACE Basin memory? We're asking the hard-hitting questions here.
Julie: Yeah. I don't know. I don't know that I have a favorite thing. But I like that I can go out there at any time of year and see new things that I've not seen before. I love the different seasons and the way it changes throughout the seasons. And you may think in the south "oh, it's just like hot all the time and it doesn't really change", but it really does and there is a fall with color in the salt marsh. It's just in the marsh grass, not in the trees necessarily. And you can see the grass change over time and the species that you see change over time and so I just like that. I like that sometimes it's very cold out there with the wind coming off the water and the water is rough, and sometimes it's completely calm, a sheet of glass almost. So, it's just always changing. It's so calming for me to be out there away from noise, away from other people. And so, I guess that's my favorite thing about it.
As a former Education Coordinator, do you have a favorite program that the reserve offers its guests?
Julie: Our most popular program by far is our program aboard our Discovery vessel. Not a lot of people have a boat or friends with boats or access to get on the water. Our programs are free. And so, we take 1000s of people, not just students but people of all ages, out down the Ashepoo River or up the Edisto River so they really can see the ACE Basin and wind through the waterways and the marshes and see the hammock islands. We mimic a lot of the monitoring methods that our researchers do so they really can get a hands-on experience of what it's like to be a marine biologist: we measure the water quality, we pull up a net so that we can really see what's going on under the water. And that's always fun. We don't know what we're going to pull up, we see different things, we see all types of really cool things come up in the net and it's really fun to experience that with people. It's especially fun to experience that with kids. And it's especially fun to experience that with people that have never been out before to just be on the water with them.
Lastly, what advice do you have for aspiring scientists?
Julie: I would say continue to keep that very basic feeling of curiosity. Continue to be curious about what you're seeing and about what you're learning about. Think about ways to solve problems. I always think it's remarkable...some of the scientists that we work with are just real problem solvers. The things they want to study and the things they want to learn about, it hasn't been done before. There is no way to do it. There's not a you know, recipe book. They have to create tools that don't exist because there is no way to do it yet and they have to really think and problem solve at how to figure out a thing or learn about a certain phenomenon happening and I really like that. I really like that curiosity and problem solving. I think those are two really valuable skills for scientists, but really for anybody in life, and once you are a scientist and you have all this type of really great information, learn how to communicate effectively. Speak to people that are nonscientists about it often and everywhere. Find a way to make your work relatable to other people and why they should care.
ACE Basin NERR Website www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/NERR/