Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009
Keepers of the coast:
Surfrider turns up the heat on environmental issues...and chili
Pretty soon, an area community could find out what others already have regarding the Surfrider Foundation.
The small but dedicated group of local environmental activists has discovered through the Department of Health and Environmental Control public notices that the DeBordieu Colony Community at the south end of the Waccamaw Neck is planning on adding man-made structures to its beach that Surfrider members believe could be a detriment to the environment directly south.
DeBordieu has applied through DHEC to add groins, a system of beach walls running perpendicular to the shore line installed to prevent erosion. According to the public notice, DeBordieu plans to construct three granite structures that measure between 276 feet and 313 feet.
The posh, gated community claims the project will "re-nourish and stabilize the shoreline along Debidue beach and extend the life of re-nourishment projects..."
However, Surfrider contends, those additions are not only halting the natural order, they could damage miles of beaches beyond what the community even controls. Now, Surfrider is prepared to do everything in its power to stop what it perceives to be preventable damage.
"We understand they don't want to keep paying to put sand on their beaches. But they can't destroy the estuaries to keep their houses pretty," Bruxanne Hein, one of the Surfrider Foundation's Grand Strand Chapter Co-Chairs, said.
During the last several weeks and the immediate future, Surfrider will make several attempts to block the upscale community's strides toward adding the groins. There will be discussions with the community itself, as well as leaders from the county and surrounding towns.
As far as DHEC is concerned, the agency will listen to public comments - essentially interested in the parties' pros and cons - on the application for the groins until Sunday, at which point all those comments will be evaluated.
Coincidentally, on the same day DHEC will stop accepting those public comments, Surfrider Foundation will hold its biggest event of the year in the form of the 10th Annual Lip-Rippin' Chilympics Chili Cook-Off at Spuds Waterfront Dining/Crazy Sister Marina in Murrells Inlet.
Like the event itself, Surfrider has grown considerably in size and influence. And when DHEC and the Army Corps of Engineers starts compiling all the information and comments on the DeBordieu application on Monday, Surfrider hopes that reach will be enough to get what it wants.
"It's been proven over time they [the man-made structures] do not work," said Jared Hendrix, the group's other co-chair and one of its founding members. "It's worse for the beach. We have studies from the West coast to the East proving it."
It will be yet another challenge to maintain Surfrider's No. 1 goal: To protect our local slice of ocean, beaches and waves.
"This is why we're here," Hendrix said. "It's just something you deal with. You push it, and hopefully, one day, you see some progress." WHAT EXACTLY IS SURFRIDER?
Nationally, the Surfrider Foundation has quite a bit of pull.
The organization was founded in Malibu, Calif., in 1984 and now keeps its national office in San Clemente, Calif., where between 25-30 full-time employees run the day-to-day operations and continue to grow and evolve nationwide projects and goals. There are 70 individual chapters along the United States' East, West, Gulf and Puerto Rican coasts. Lately chapters have affiliated internationally, as well, and all-told, there are more than 30,000 members around the globe.
The Grand Strand's chapter is still relatively young, having been around for about a decade. It is comprised entirely of volunteer members - approximately 100 (with 15-20 of those being described as "very active").
"We've tried to grow the organization," Hendrix said. "At first, it was very small, very unheard of. Now that we've been around for more than 10 years, we've become well-known with the [local] cities.
"They all know who we are. We've done projects with all of them now."
The foundation has worked with nearly every municipality in Horry and Georgetown counties on projects such as beach and swash trash pick-up. In small droves, the volunteers will hit certain areas affected heavily by litter and other non-natural habitat deterrents, not stopping until every visible piece of refuse is off the ground and disposed of properly.
The group also finds creative ways to attempt to prevent future damage to the beach.
It is attempting through the Horry County tax commission to gain funds in order to place magnets and placards in rental units throughout the Grand Strand reminding tourists to pick up their trash. A day at the beach can produce pounds of trash per person; from beverage cans and bottles to food containers to broken chairs and cigarette butts, keeping every bit of it from being left on the beach can do wonders.
That is where education comes into play.
"What we're trying to get back on the wagon with is (with) kids," Hendrix said. "We've spoken in the past with middle schoolers and some groups at Coastal Carolina (University). We're really trying to focus on the grade school and high schools again. They're a little more absorbent. ... We could go back and keep cleaning beaches. But you don't want to have to keep cleaning up after people. We'd rather stop it."
For the most part, the Grand Strand chapter - as well as nearly all of Surfrider's factions across the country - is operating as an autonomous entity. The national office in San Clemente long ago set the standards for campaigns, and as long as the individual chapter's aim doesn't appear to thin or spread out, the people in San Clemente are hands-off.
"The staff here assists all of our chapters. We have scientists and lawyers and experts in grassroots [campaigns]," Ed Mazzaralla, the national director of chapters for Surfrider, said. "Jared can't call me and say 'can you be here tonight?' No, that isn't going to happen. But we can get on Skype [an Internet phone and video program] and support them. We give our chapters a lot of autonomy."
With that autonomy, each chapter best decides how to attack its area's environmental issues.
In Myrtle Beach, that has included putting dog waste bag dispensers and signs on the beach, the adopt-a-beach program and signs prompting beach users to the various ways to keep the beaches clean. Additionally, another campaign lent itself to protecting sea turtles that use the ocean beaches to reproduce and repopulate what is considered a declining population.
The reason for the proactive approach is clear: prevention is much easier than reacting to potential damage. It is also an approach that is drawing praise from area government leaders.
"Generally speaking, their awareness campaigns have had an impact," said Myrtle Beach City Manager Tom Leath. "In some situations, a better impact. It's not a one-time shot. It's more of an awareness. That awareness leads people to ... protect the beach, protect this asset."
GETTING FIRED UP FOR CHILYMPICS
As with any volunteer organization, funding is a major issue.
That's what this weekend is all about. Surfrider will hold its 10th Annual Lip-Rippin' Chilympics Chili Cook-Off from noon to 7 p.m. Sunday in the parking lot at Spud's Waterfront Dining/Crazy Sister Marina in Murrells Inlet.
Like Surfrider itself, the cook-off has grown from an event that started in a Myrtle Beach
restaurant parking lot with five chili vendors into one that last year drew about 3,000 people and raised approximately $16,500.
"You can take a group of people out there and eat pretty cheap. It's a pretty inexpensive day," Hein said. "I have a lot of people who come up to me and tell me it's their favorite event of the fall. ... It's become a good event for the Inlet."
For $1 per sample, patrons can check out some of the best chili the Grand Strand has to offer.
Vendors are competing in several categories: Hottest, best theme, vegetarian/seafood, most original, best overall and restaurant division. Two winners will be crowned from each category.
And the variation between categories is only the beginning.
Last year's winner combined Hawaiian chicken and pineapple. In the past, chocolate has been in the mix, as have bear meat, wild boar, quail, alligator. One of this year's competitors, Hein's husband, Curt Hein (the 2004 "Chili Master"), has also ordered 10 pounds of rattlesnake to base his chili off.
The specifics for the contest don't follow the same rules that other contests may, a move that provides for those off-the-wall results. "The chili competition is pretty serious, but we try not to be too strict with the rules," Bruxanne Hein said. "We've had some really interesting winners."
Often, in order to out-do the restaurants who already have the materials and cooking supplies on hand, multiple individuals will team up to prep for the competition.
The event will also feature live music. Ten Toes Up, Skitch, Strike-O-Matics, The Old Scobes and Sawgrass are all slated to play.
Additionally, the Little Miss Chili Pepper contest will take place, and several other non-profits from the area will be distributing information. NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCES
In June, Surfside Beach was honored with a Blue Wave designation, awarded by the Clean Beaches Council, a national organization that compares cleanliness and lifestyle possibilities at different beaches around the country.
Surfside Beach was one of just two beaches in South Carolina and the only one locally to earn that recognition, with Isle of Palms being the other. Many of the reasons Surfside Beach won the award had to do with the efforts of Surfrider Foundation.
Meanwhile, within the city limits of Myrtle Beach, Surfrider takes one of its most active roles. "They look to get their message out, but they look to get their message out through community service," city manager Leath said. "We're the beneficiaries, if you will, of that community service. ... We have a common goal when it comes to the beach."
This year, Surfrider also started awarding a $1,000 annual scholarship to a student at Coastal Carolina University. The first recipient of the scholarship was Dan Jolles, a CCU senior and Surfrider volunteer.
Jolles, who has volunteered with Surfrider for four years through his fraternity, Delta Chi, said he has seen the organization's reach grow just in his short time with the group.
In August, Surfrider went back to Withers Swash Park in Myrtle Beach, which in the past was one of the most labor-intensive clean-up projects in which the foundation participated.
"The first time we went out there with Surfrider, there was trash everywhere," Jolles said. "It didn't look like a park people would even want to be there. When we went out there recently, there was still a bunch of trash, but it wasn't even close. It looked like people tried to keep up with it. It actually looks like somewhere you'd want to go to now. It was 150 percent better."
There are other visible changes for the better, too. Last year, South Carolina became the second state in the country besides Virginia to develop and support a Surfrider Foundation state license plate. Many of the local members have replaced their standard plates with the foundation's, and several have posted pictures displaying them on the group's Web site.
Soon, the group hopes another noticeable difference will take shape.
Surfrider is working to install a shower at Garden City Beach's primary surfing area. WHERE TO NEXT?
Surfrider - with the proper support and volunteer level - could take more of a political shape in the future.
At least, that's what Hendrix hopes.
While the group can't promote political candidates because of its 501(c)3, non-profit status, by getting more involved with the front-end of decision makers, "that's where you could see some real progress," Hendrix said. That would depend on the group not only continuing to grow, but also for it to gain more name recognition. For now, it remains a small group many don't understand.
"I'm not sure Surfrider carries a name with all that pull right now," Hendrix said. "I would hope it does in the future. It does [now] on the West coast."
In the meantime, the foundation concentrates much of its efforts on keeping the beaches not only clean, but accessible.
When a popular local resort attempted a few years back to make its section of the beach private, there was Surfrider, getting involved at the local and state level to make sure the public beach stayed public.
The small protest proved fruitful, and that section of the beach was never closed.
"They wanted to close the beach to be members only," Hein said. "We organized several protests. ... We just didn't feel it would be right to exclude the public. We launched a successful campaign."
The group also took part in curbing much of the local work to grow off-shore drilling, one of the national group's primary focuses.
Both projects gave local businesses a taste of what Surfrider's national campaigns have been able to achieve. Using many of those same tactics, the Grand Strand chapter believes it can continue to make a difference.
The foundation often attempts to sit down at the proverbial negotiating table with the businesses and municipalities and find a more environmentally conscious way of improving the area.
"We try not to run out there and pick fights and make enemies," Hendrix said. "A lot of our volunteers, we're tied to this community. We might have Surfrider members who may work at that resort or live in that community. We try to sit down at the table and reach agreements. Sometimes that doesn't work."
Until it does, Surfrider will keep trying.