FOR MORE THAN a decade, thousands of people have flocked to Georgia’s 100-mile coastline, drawn by meandering creeks and rivers, expanses of salt marsh and cypress swamps, and the chance to see herons, egrets and manatees.
 
Will the coast’s very popularity destroy its natural appeal? Will subdivisions and boat docks, strip malls and roads degrade water quality and wildlife habitats from Savannah south to the Okeefenokee Swamp?
 
The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), a nonprofit advocacy group with an office in Atlanta, made a plea against this scenario in a 2007 report titled: “At the Tipping Point.”
 
“The coast’s natural resources and beauty could, ironically, lead to its own undoing,” SELC declared in a 94-page report that catalogued manmade perils.
 
Economy Meets Ecology
The report is not intended to halt economic development, but rather to ensure that development is appropriate for coastal ecology, said David Pope, director of SELC’s Georgia/Alabama office.
 
“Development and a healthy environment can co-exist,” agreed Thomas L.
Thomson, executive director of the Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC). Thomson noted that the MPC recently helped the county create a Resources Protection Commission for preserving the county’s “unique areas” as development continues.
 
A Call to Action
The SELC’s report called on 19 other conservation groups operating in coastal Georgia to form a “collective plan of action” against lax enforcement of state and federal laws protecting wetlands and wildlife in 11 coastal counties. These include Chatham, Bryan and Effingham counties, which had a combined 2007 population estimated at 331,000 people.
 
“Although the environmental community is putting up an inspired fight to save the coast, it is outgunned by developers,” the report declared. The report revealed that uncontrolled development is already eroding the character and beauty of the Georgia coast, and “because the coast is at a tipping point, the conservation groups need to act quickly and decisively to ensure that the it tips in the direction of conservation.”
 
The report called for four immediate actions:
1. Protecting salt marshes and estuaries by requiring proper implementation of the state’s Coastal Marshlands Protection Act.
2. Protecting coastal waters from sediment runoff by enforcing the 25-foot buffer between construction sites and shorelines.
3. Protecting freshwater wetlands and streams by challenging “illegal” federal regulatory decisions on draining or filling them.
4. Permanently protecting sensitive lands across the region.
 
“I don’t see any greater collaboration than there ever was (among coastal environmentalists),” Judy Jennings, member of the Coastal Group Sierra Club, said. Jennings said she would like to see more teamwork between government regulators and non-governmental organizations like hers, and supports the creation of a Savannah River Basin Commission that would address regional environmental issues the way such commissions have in other regions of the country.
 
Beneath the Surface
To the casual observer, coastal Georgia’s beauty doesn’t appear to be in danger. Most of its 14 oceanfront barrier islands are unpopulated and protected from development because they are state preserves or federal wildlife refuges. Coastal counties remain home to one-third of the East Coast’s salt marshes, as the report points out. But burgeoning home construction to the west and south of Savannah shows the coast remains a target for developers, as retiring baby boomers seek an Atlantic locale.
 
An estimated 60,000 acres of freshwater, forested wetlands have already succumbed to development in Chatham, Bryan and Liberty counties, said Chandra Brown of the Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper group. Flood control and pollution removal are among the environmental benefits of such wetlands, Brown said. The short-term (strategy) is protecting what’s left. 
 
Something in the Water
Coastal conservationists’ strategic plan will prioritize protection of marshes, freshwater wetlands and a healthy stream system. Muddy runoff from construction sites, which can also carry dissolved chemical contaminants, is perhaps the chief problem for waterways statewide.
 
An assortment of government jurisdictions has led to inconsistent planning and sprawl, Pope said. SELC’s report expresses concern about efforts to develop marsh hammocks, the hundreds of islands that dot the coast and that development most always involves construction of a bridge.
 
A Growing Concern
Pope doesn’t believe the downturn in housing will cause a long-term slowdown. The population projections “all show tremendous growth on the coast over the next 10-20 years,” he said. A 2006 study by the Coastal Georgia Regional Development Center predicts continuing population growth by 2030 in 10 coastal counties, including:
 

• 32.5 percent increase predicted in Chatham County
• 96.4 percent increase in Bryan County
• 113 percent growth in Effingham County

“The economy will start coming back,” Thomson said, predicting that by 2012 or 2013, Savannah area construction will be back to its 2005-06 levels.
 
Appreciating Value
With any luck, this next growth phase could benefit the environment rather than endanger it. Pope sees more public interest in coastal environmental protection today than he saw five years ago.
 
“People have just become more aware of the special characteristics of the Georgia coast,” he said. “Savannah has a culture of preservation -- there’s a greater sensitivity. You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it's gone. I think they’ve figured out what they’ve got before it’s gone.”

This story has been condensed from its original version for Web site publication.