Two recent articles from the Myrtle Beach Sun News tell of new plans for helping to give oysters a new home in the Withers Swash.

Community group making a home for oysters

The Myrtle Beach Downtown Redevelopment Corportation gots its first inside look at The Withers Estuary Community Collaborative this afternoon as the nonprofits leaders presented their plans for new oyster homes in Withers Swash.

Collaborative director Neil Chambers, Keith Walters, a marine science professor at Coastal Carolina University, and Janet Wood, with Myrtle Beach Public Works Department, accepted the redevelopment agency’s invitation to appear, hoping to generate some excitement for their project.

Chambers, an architect who works with InFORM Studios here in Myrtle Beach, has been working on designs for the 4.8-mile Withers Estuary for about a year now, thinking about how to improve water quality, the ecosystem and the surrounding park space and neighborhoods to make the area into an amenity for the city.

“We saw it as a potential place for a park, but when I saw what was going on down there, I really thought we could make a difference,” Chambers told the redevelopment board.

It starts with oysters.

They are filter-feeders that can each clean four gallons of water an hour, making them are a critical first step to restoring the pond’s habitat.

Chambers, Walters and others will lay down smashed concrete underwater near the Kings Highway-side banks of the tidal pond behind the KFC just south of Third Avenue South, then cover the concrete with dried, cleaned oyster shells.

Then they’ll wait for the baby oysters to come swimming in to the pond in May and June, and find their suitable new habitat. The baby oysters, they hope, will latch on and begin building their own shells.

Chambers hopes to start more reefs, then work on the natural pollution filters healthy shoreline ecosystems provide for stormwater, begin to restructure how stormwater flows into the swash and out into the ocean, expand and remodel Withers Swash Park and — someday — work on redeveloping the neighborhood around the park and swash.

But to get people to buy in, he said, the group has to begin to show results.

That’s part of why Chambers and others decided to start with the oysters. They will be able to show residents how something as simple as oyster-bed restoration can start to restore the whole area, and will help when the nonprofit group applies for grants.

Redevelopment board President Bert Anderson wanted to know how his group could help.

Chambers said he hoped his group and the redevelopment agency could help each other by partnering up and redeveloping downtown using green and sustainable principles.

“Green isn’t the future, it’s more the now,” Chambers said. “We want to show the community there are ways to do this that don’t have to be really expensive or involve a lot of engineering and can improve the community.”

To get involved with the Withers Estuary Community Collaborative, call Neil Chambers at (917) 592-8242.

[ Lorena Anderson, Myrtle Beach Sun News ]

Oysters get move-in aid in Myrtle Beach

Some people look at the tidal pond commonly thought of as Withers Swash and see a polluted mess.

Others see the pond as a home – for oysters, that is.

It’s almost oyster-spawning season, and before May rolls around, the Withers Estuary Community Collaborative hopes to have the foundations laid for some new oyster homes.

“They’ll attach to about anything,” said Keith Walters, a marine science professor from Coastal Carolina University.

He and collaborative director Neil Chambers and fellow member Janet Wood presented the group’s intentions to Myrtle Beach’s Downtown Redevelopment Corp. at the redevelopment group’s Wednesday board meeting, hoping to generate some excitement for their project.

Chambers, a green – as in ecologically focused – architect who works with Inform Studios in Myrtle Beach has been working on designs for the 4.8-mile Withers Estuary for about a year, thinking about how to improve water quality, the ecosystem and the surrounding park space and neighborhoods to make the area into an amenity for the city rather than a place many shy away from.

“We saw it as a potential place for a park, but when I saw what was going on down there, I really thought we could make a difference,” Chambers told the redevelopment board.

The collaborative has joined with the city of Myrtle Beach, Coastal Carolina University, Street Reach, Inform, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Horry County, the Surfrider Foundation and others, including local businesses, to start cleaning up the water and improving the area.

It starts with oysters.

The city and several other groups have donated most of what the collaborative needs to start an oyster reef, and because oysters are filter-feeders that can each clean 4 gallons of water an hour, they are a critical first step to restoring the pond’s habitat.

Chambers, Walters and others will lay down smashed concrete underwater near the Kings Highway-side banks of the tidal pond behind the KFC south of Third Avenue South, then cover the concrete with dried, cleaned oyster shells.

Then they’ll wait for the baby oysters to come swimming in to the pond during May and June and find their suitable new habitat. The baby oysters, they hope, will latch on and begin building their own shells.

It takes about two years for an oyster reef to become noticeable, but Chambers, Walters and Wood, with the city’s public works department, said they are confident the reef will take hold. They’ve tested the water and found oyster larvae there, and this week found small reefs near the tidal pond’s banks.

Now they need to get more oyster shells – from a recycling program they’re working on with local restaurants, they hope – and get them in the water in late April.

They hope the effects will ripple from there.

“I hope that people along the waterways that feed into the swash will begin to request reefs or at least give us access to their property so we can start them,” Chambers said. “I hope the community will get involved.”

He wants to start more reefs, then work on the natural pollution filters that healthy shoreline ecosystems provide for stormwater, begin to restructure how stormwater flows into the swash and out into the ocean, expand and remodel Withers Swash Park and – someday – work on redeveloping the neighborhood around the park and swash.

But to get people to buy in, he said, the group has to begin to show results. That’s part of why Chambers and others decided to start with the oysters. They will be able to show residents how something as simple as oyster-bed restoration can start to restore the whole area, and will help when the nonprofit group applies for grants.

“I grew up swimming, fishing and crabbing in the swash before it got so polluted,” redevelopment board member Jay Bultz told Chambers during his presentation Wednesday. “Now it’s the first place in town to get the [S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control] warnings, where they tell people not to swim 100 or 200 yards from the swash.”

Redevelopment board President Bert Anderson wanted to know how his group could help.

Chambers said he hoped his group and the redevelopment agency could help each other by partnering and redeveloping downtown using green and sustainable principles.

“Green isn’t the future, it’s more the now,” Chambers said. “We want to show the community there are ways to do this that don’t have to be really expensive or involve a lot of engineering and can improve the community.”

[ Lorena Anderson, Myrtle Beach Sun News ]