COLUMBIA, S.C. — Today, the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services’s Bureau of Coastal Management (BCM) launched a new public resource providing valuable information about South Carolina’s coastal environment. The new South Carolina Coastal Atlas is an ArcGIS StoryMap designed to provide graphics, imagery and information about the history, data, tools, and services offered by South Carolina’s Coastal Management Program.
BCM is responsible for implementing the state’s Coastal Management Program, with direct management authority for the critical areas of the state’s coastal waters, tidelands, beaches and beach dune systems. BCM also is the indirect certification authority for federal actions and state permitting decisions within the eight coastal counties, and the Bureau is involved with data collection and analysis, public outreach, and stakeholder engagement.
“We’re excited about the launch of the South Carolina Coastal Atlas, which is a one-stop-shop, providing the public with quick and easy access to valuable information and data from the Coastal Program,” said Chris Stout, Chief of SCDES’s Bureau of Coastal Management. “This new tool also provides a historical overview of how the state’s coastal environment has been protected over the years.”
Users of the new South Carolina Coastal Atlas can navigate major milestones along the Coastal Management Program’s historical timeline, from the 1973 inception of the Coastal Zone Planning and Management Council, through state government restructuring over the decades, to present-day Coastal Program initiatives. The Coastal Atlas allows users to explore data and applications using interactive features on the ArcGIS StoryMap platform, and it highlights information related to the state’s critical areas, living shorelines, public beach access, beach erosion, beach renourishment, hazard vulnerability, King Tides, abandoned boats, and more.
Funding for the development of the South Carolina Coastal Atlas was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, through the Coastal Zone Enhancement Program.
Learn more about SCDES BCM’s roles and responsibilities for protecting and enhancing the state’s coastal resources at des.sc.gov/bcm.
