South Carolina's local governments, particularly those along the coast, should add new wetlands protection into their land use, planning and development approvals for a host of reasons.

The most obvious reason is that the public interest is served through protecting, conserving, enhancing and maintaining wetlands and wetland buffer areas. Wetlands help with flood control, provide key wildlife habitat and protect our water quality.

As our climate changes, storms are becoming more intense, and sea levels are rising. This is unfolding at the same time our population is growing, and our state faces the need for more housing. Land near our growing metro areas is increasingly scarce, and includes more wetlands since earlier generations knew better than to build in such locations.

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