Polk Swamp Project Partnership Agreement Signing Begins Restoration Design and Construction

Who: Lt. Col. Andrew Johannes, Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Dorchester County Administrator, Jason L. Ward

What: The signing of the Polk Swamp Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Project Partnership Agreement (PPA).

When: Wednesday, February 15 at 1:00pm.

Where: St. George County Council Chambers at 201 Johnston Street, St. George SC 29477

Why: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District and Dorchester County will sign a Project Partnership Agreement to design and restore approximately 290 acres of bottomland hardwood forest that has died off since the late 1980s.The project will connect high functioning bottomland hardwood forests located upstream and downstream of the project area, expanding riparian corridors and reducing habitat fragmentation, benefiting species such as the American Wood Stork. Implementation will include the removal of channel blockages and invasive species and replanting with keystone bottomland hardwood species such as cypress and tupelo. In 2022, $99,000 was provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to scope the preconstruction, engineering and design phase (PED) and negotiate a Project Partnership Agreement. Following the signing of the Project Partnership Agreement, the project will move into the PED phase. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2025 and will take three years to fully implement due to multiple phases of invasive species removal and native planting.