Special Focus Lecture: Beach Vitex

Thursday May 12, 2005

Kimbel Center, Hobcaw Barony

Georgetown, SC

Co-sponsored by the North Inlet – Winyah Bay Coastal Training Program (CTP) and Community Education Program, Clemson University’s Institute for Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, and the Beach Vitex Task Force.

Beach Vitex (Vitex rotundifolia) was introduced on local beaches in the early 1990s for dune stabilization and erosion control. By the mid-90’s, a plant specialist with the US Army Corps of Engineers had grown concerned with the plant’s alarming growth rate, and within a few years, volunteers who were monitoring the beaches for Loggerhead sea turtle nests had raised concerns about the possible impacts that the plant’s rapid growth extensive root system might have on native species. This concern about the effect of Vitex on beach habitats and wildlife spurred the creation of the Beach Vitex Task Force in 2003 and engendered a number of research and monitoring efforts.

11:40 Draft Agenda

11:30 Sign-in

11:40 Welcome

Jeff Pollack, North Inlet-Winyah Bay Coastal Training Program Coordinator

Beth Thomas, North Inlet-Winyah Bay Community Education Program Coordinator

11:50 11:45 Update from the Beach Vitex Task Force

Betsy Brabson, Beach Vitex Task Force Coordinator

12:00 Lunch begins (lunch will extend into subsequent talks)

12:30 12:30 Distinguishing Beach Vitex from Native Dune Plants

John Brubaker, SC Native Plant Society

12:45 12:45 Beach Vitex Research Update

Chuck Gresham, Clemson University Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science