Rain gardens not only minimize nuisance flooding, but they also beautify the landscape and filter pollutants from rainwater before it flows into rivers and streams. Rain gardens are gardens planted with grasses, flowers and other plants that collect rainwater from driveways, roofs and streets and allow the water to soak into the ground. On June 4th, 2022, the Partnership held a community rain garden event. It also supported residents’ advocacy work, quest to bring attention to their story in local media (see this link and here), and successful efforts to secure funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to implement a project focused on cultural preservation and economic development. Guided and motivated by the thoughtful leadership of Bucksport residents, the Partnership completed a sustainability assessment and a community flood assessment with a user-friendly story map. The Partnership wasted no time getting to work. In June 2021, the Association for the Betterment of Bucksport partnered with American Rivers to form the Bucksport Community Partnership, a collaboration comprised of non-profit organizations, universities and governmental agencies dedicated to supporting residents’ efforts to find equitable, holistic and nature-based solutions to flooding and the variety of other issues that have created social, economic and ecological vulnerabilities for the community. This has only recently changed in 2021, with FEMA allowing for heirs’ property owners to provide additional documentation to prove ownership a crucial step in getting disaster assistance to historically black communities. Additionally, the issue of heirs’ property has historically created a limitation on access to assistance for a declared disaster.

Many residents have suffered repetitive damage to their homes and other property, even as the cost of flood insurance has increased almost ten-fold. Flooding is also linked to heavy rainfall during the winter months that contributes to rising water levels in the Waccamaw River. Two of those events were caused by riverine flooding related to Hurricane Matthew in October of 2016 and Hurricane Florence in September of 2018. Over the last 6 years, the community of Bucksport has experienced five major flood events and many smaller flooding issues. Persistent flooding in the community has both exposed and exacerbated these issues. Like many Gullah Geechee communities, that way of life is under threat from unbridled development, political disenfranchisement, economic exclusion, and the many vulnerabilities associated with heirs’ property. For many, their way of life is rooted in their connection to family, land and local rivers through long-held traditions such as fishing, gardening and farming. Today, the community of Bucksport is made up of families that have lived in the area for generations. These booming industries were buttressed by the labor of enslaved people – Indigenous, African and African Americans whose descendants continue to reside in Bucksport and throughout the region. HCAC Research.1.īucksport’s recent history lends to an earlier colonial period of timber mills and trade along the river, with the production of the lumber that was used for building homes and businesses throughout Horry and Georgetown counties, as well as ships that were built and then launched from the thriving Bucksport Marina. Burroughs, John Benjamin, “In Search of Uauenee (or the Great Bluff)” (2005). In the 18th century, the area, identified as the “Great Bluff” on many topographical maps, was possibly the location of where trade was conducted with the Waccamaw and Pee Dee people at nearby Bull Creek. The community has an extensive cultural history. For the Gullah Geechee community of Bucksport in South Carolina, rain gardens will empower the community to manage water on properties that are prone to flooding nuisance.īucksport is situated in the southern portion of Horry County, at the confluence of the Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers, adjacent to the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge and just a short thirty-minute drive from the popular tourist destination of Myrtle Beach. From Portland, Oregon to Bucksport, South Carolina, communities have been creatively addressing flooding issues by seeking nature-based solutions.

Horry county flood map