Environmental Stewardship

As a result of decades of environmental stewardship, Kiawah is well known as a land of florabundance. Ages-old species of flora including pennywort, yucca, prickly pear cactus, butterfly pea, and sea oats thrive on the front beach and dune environment. Our maritime forest and pond habitats are replete with pine, live oak, magnolia, and palmetto trees shadow smaller trees and thicket filled with common species such as wax myrtle, beauty berry, red bay, rice myrtle, and yaupon holly.

Generations of fauna also coexist in harmony with the Island’s ebb and flow of two-legged inhabitants. Bald eagles, osprey, hawks, bluebirds, painted buntings, bufflehead ducks, cormorants, and various species of heron are just a few of the more than 200 species of birds and waterfowl that inhabit Kiawah Island. Outside of wildlife refuges, Kiawah is the region’s most prolific nesting area for loggerhead turtles. Our waters and several thousand acres of marshes provide the vital sustenance for dolphin, spot-tail bass, croaker, blue crab, mullet, flounder, shrimp, clams, oysters, and other shellfish. The thick forested land supplies an abundant habitat for white-tailed deer, bobcats, alligators, raccoons, foxes, otters, upland voles, gray squirrels, opossum, and rabbits.

The pristine condition of Kiawah’s 10-mile beach, noted for being more than 100 yards wide at high tide, has led renowned beach expert Stephen Leatherman ("Dr. Beach") to name Kiawah as the nation's Best Wildlife Getaway Beach. Our marshes and lowlands are appealing and ever changing their delightful hues during all seasons of the year.

Approximately half of the Island is composed of salt marsh, tidal creeks, and freshwater wetlands, along with 100 or so brackish and freshwater ponds, lakes, and lagoons. Protective measures include self-imposed setbacks such as a 20-foot minimum on marshfront property, use of shared and community docks, zoning restrictions on waterways, and conservative square footage and home footprint caps. Kiawah is likewise the only location in South Carolina to zone its waterways.