Mount Pleasant Magazine Sept/Oct 2021

106 www.MountPl easantPodcas t . com | www. ReadMPM. com | www. I LoveMountPl easant . com O n the boat ride to Crab Bank, Audubon South Carolina Coastal Programs Coordinator Nolan Schillerstrom paraphrased the famous “Field of Dreams” quote when describing conservation partners’ attitude toward the island restoration’s anticipated impact on sea and shorebirds: “If you build it, they will come.” That is the expectation for the project to rebuild Crab Bank Seabird Sanctuary, a critical bird rookery located near the mouth of Shem Creek. The dredge spoil island, believed to have originated from dredge material sometime in the 1950s, succumbed to erosion in 2018. Construction begins this fall, with completion expected by the 2022 nesting season, March 15 to October 15. Norfolk Dredging Company, the contractor overseeing the restoration work, will use dredge material from the Charleston Harbor Deepening Project and place approximately 660,000 cubic yards of sediment from the deepened channel within the historic footprint of Crab Bank. When finished, it will renourish approximately 28 BY COL I N MCCANDLESS The Return of Crab Bank Seabird Sanctuary Renourishment Expected to Bring Back Colonies of Nesting Coastal Birds Photo by Fe l i c i a Sande r s . Photo by Tanya Da l es Des i gn & Photography.