Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

Bivalves and Boats : A Year as a Wildlife Technician in Oyster Reef Restoration Matthew McDonald

I have been eager to start working in science since I was a child. Wildlife Biology and Ecology are my passions, and I was looking for more field experience before I went to college. I was supposed to work as a kayak guide for a Charleston ecotourism company, but was laid off in the first wave of the pandemic in 2020. Over the course of several months, I would apply to over 40 positions across the country, from forestry assistant to turtle research technician. After months of searching and applying for open positions, I was left with no offers. I was frustrated but determined to put my time into something important. Left with no opportunities, I had to make my own. I started volunteering around Charleston, and found the Oyster Recycling and Enhancement Program (SCORE), a part of South Carolina's Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR). After helping plant marsh grass in the hellish heat of July, I sat caked in acrid, sulfurous pluff mud. Michael, the head biologist of the program, passed by me. I thanked him for allowing volunteers like me to come and help, and explained how I struggled to find anywhere that would take me on for the summer field season. After a brief pause, he asked, "Well, you want a job?". I accepted on the spot, starting a year-long project that proved to be extremely rewarding and enriching. I believe that this project fully embodies the idea of an apprentice ecology project. I have volunteered in many different environmental projects, but wanted to fully dedicate my time to something that focused on the environment and decided to take a gap year between high school and college to be able to focus fully on the work I cared deeply about. I undertook this project because it impacted more than just me. I wanted to play a role in building a more sustainable future for the place I grew up in and love. This project allowed me to focus fully on environmental restoration and conservation, and put me in a position of community leadership by being an environmental steward and educator. It also directly improves the well-being of wildlife and people by protecting the threatened coastlines and allowing ecosystem services to be carried out. For a year, I worked as a wildlife technician for the Oyster Recycling and Enhancement Program, a community based marine conservation project based out of Charleston South Carolina. This program engages volunteers to help restore salt marsh habitat using Marsh Grass also called Spartina, and the Atlantic Oyster. This project provides substrate for live, larval oysters to establish themselves on, namely old oyster shells. Without hard surfaces to attach to, oysters cannot mature into adults that play vital roles within their habitat. The program partnered with restaurants across the state as well as collecting shells from public shell recycling sites to collect their shells after being shucked and eaten. We would then use this shell in multiple ways, one of which was to use staff members and volunteers to move 30 lb mesh bags of oyster shells onto a shoreline, forming a 60 by 10 foot reef. We also used volunteers to assist in making and moving manufactured wire reefs, which also contained shells. These large wire cages held oyster shells while using less material and more surface area. For large scale restoration projects, a barge would spray the shell off its deck with a large hose, while DNR staff used a small boat to collect litter that was sprayed from the shell into the water. This mitigated erosion of unstable shorelines by providing a regenerative surface to reduce wave energy. It also improved local water quality by allowing live oysters to filter vast quantities of water. The majority of my work as a wildlife technician took place along the South Carolina coast from Charleston to Beaufort on any waterway that needed restoration. This included places like the Intracoastal Waterway, The Charleston Harbor, and Port Royal Sound. In addition, we also did marsh grass restoration in which marsh grass was planted in areas with few plants and degrading shorelines. Spartina is not a plant grown commercially, so we were involved in cultivating these plants at every step. We collected the seeds, planted and raised them, and planted them in the marsh. I was also tasked with watering and ensuring the health of thousands of these plants every single day for over 6 months. We had three large greenhouses full of trays of spartina and many on the sides of the greenhouses due to the record number of plants that year. Despite the economic and ecological value of salt marshes, there have been significant declines along the east coast. Without oysters and Spartina, the second most productive ecosystem in the world would not exist. Over 120 species have been recorded using oyster reefs as shelter or to hunt. The critical ecosystem services they provide like erosion mitigation and shoreline stabilization help protect South Carolina's damaged coast. Oysters are also incredibly efficient at filtering the water column. A single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons per day, with a single reef being able to filter thousands of gallons of water a day. Oysters also serve as barriers for Spartina grass, which allows them to establish behind the reefs in dense swaths. The Spartina salt marsh of the Atlantic coast is one of the most efficient natural carbon sinks, with up to over a thousand grams of carbon being stored within a single square meter of soil. In the face of anthropogenic climate change, this habitat is a vital asset to lowering levels of atmospheric carbon. The Lowcountry of the state has some of the greatest area of salt marsh per capita, making it a highly productive and useful ecosystem for the whole state. Without Oyster and Spartina restoration efforts, this vital habitat, as well as the coast itself, is at risk of being lost. Marine Biology is a far cry from reptile and amphibian ecology. However, I learned valuable skills in my time working for SCDNR and carrying out the apprentice ecology project. With this valuable experience, I was able to begin pursuing a bachelor's degree in Biology from College of Charleston. I gained immense satisfaction seeing the work of two field seasons and a full year of work pay off, with tens of thousands of spartina stalks being planted and thousands of feet of shoreline restored. While the work was very demanding with long, irregular hours, the work environment is something I look fondly back on. My coworkers and volunteers made the toughest days easier and provided valuable insight into the world of science and community outreach. I am extremely proud of the work I did for a program that works tirelessly to better my community, and it reaffirmed my commitment to a career in science. It also provided me with time away from school that I needed to recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the end of high school, the strain of intensive classes, college applications, and the pandemic forced me to take a break from the pressures of academics and commit myself to something I found valuable. Most importantly, I realized the importance of science outreach. Working under a volunteer based program, I came to realize how important it is to make science accessible to the public. I have become much more aware of good science communication, and strive to connect non-scientists with the field of science in multiple ways that have been influenced by my time with this project. Using my leadership position in the College of Charleston's environmental advocacy club, I get people of all different majors and career interests to enjoy the outdoors, volunteer, and work with scientists. If we are to have a more scientifically literate and invested public, more resources can be put into valuable programs like the SCORE Program. Not only did this project teach me valuable lessons and enrich my life, it helped over a thousand volunteers become better environmental stewards and made our coastline more resilient.