Success Story

Ecosystem Restoration and Archeological Protection on Ossabaw Island

South End Field,
Ossabaw Island,
Georgia

The Ossabaw Island Living Shoreline project is a major ecosystem restoration and cultural-resource protection effort led by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Coastal Resources Division, with extensive collaboration from state, federal, academic, community and nonprofit partners. Funded entirely through the Inflation Reduction Act, the project received a $826,000 award to design and construct what will become the longest living shoreline in Georgia—approximately 1,225 feet!

This project addresses severe shoreline erosion that threatens both natural habitats and significant archaeological resources on Ossabaw Island. The project is both complex and deeply important to the wider community with more than 20 stakeholder groups regularly engaging in project site visits and discussions.

With this project, Georgia is poised to protect their cultural heritage as well as their ecological future.

Ossabaw Island: 5000 Years of History

Ossabaw Island holds more than 5,000 years of human history, including early farming settlements and culturally important archaeological sites. These burial sites also include a rare early case of cremation of remains, potentially dating to 1000 B.C..

The Problem:
Shoreline Erosion Puts Ecosystems
and Archeological Sites at Risk

As a Heritage Preserve, Ossabaw Island is not subject to development; however, parts of the island are in danger due to sea level rise and rapid erosion. The erosion on the South End was first noted in 1978. Between surveys conducted in 1930 and the 2000s of the coastline, the shoreline of Ossabaw Island retreated approximately 77 horizontal feet.

In its current condition, large portions of the South End’s upland bluff continue to fall into Newell Creek, including portions of Late Prehistoric burials. In 2001, four ancestral remains had to be relocated due to the rapid bank loss and exposure. The one off removals of remains, as they become exposed, is expensive, reactionary, and ultimately provides no permanent solution.

Map showing South End Beach project location on Ossabaw Island with archaeological site marker, green marsh areas, sandy beach zones, and adjacent Atlantic Ocean waters in Georgia

The Project:
Creating
a Living Shoreline

The Ossabaw Island Living Shoreline Project design is explicitly engineered to protect both cultural heritage, by stabilizing and respecting an existing burial site, and environmental resources. Additionally, the project design supports future marsh migration and resilience to sea level rise.

Phase 1: Design

This design is explicitly engineered to be a permanent solution to protect both cultural heritage and environmental resources, while supporting future marsh migration and resilience to sea level rise. The project site is in a high-energy environment along the bank of a 200-foot-wide creek, with a long fetch, high water velocities and active boat traffic. These challenging conditions limited the types of solutions that could be engineered at the site. Further complicating the options was the presence of the burial grounds, which prevent anchoring directly into the slope.

As a result, innovative and alternative designs have been selected for the site. These include packing engineered fill from a local borrow site into the existing bank erosion, rather than cutting and filling, and the placement of weighted coir logs and a proprietary mat system called fleximat, which will stabilize the slope without anchoring. All of these efforts, in tandem, prevent further damage and exposure within the burial site. Finally, to enhance protection and ecosystem function, as well as channel function, the existing dock will be moved and the entire project will be done without channel filling.

Design plans are currently 75% complete and the environmental impacts assessments have been finalized.

Phases 2 and 3: Permitting and Construction

The project is currently in the permitting process and the team is actively working with their federal partners to advance those permits. Construction is scheduled to begin in April 2026.

Ecosystem Restoration and Archeological Protection on Ossabaw Island

South End Field, Ossabaw Island, Georgia

Ossabaw Island: 5000 Years of History

The Problem: Shoreline Erosion Puts Ecosystems and Archeological Sites at Risk

The Project: Creating a Living Shoreline

Phase 1: Design

Phases 2 and 3: Permitting and Construction

See Other Success Stories

South End Field,
Ossabaw Island,
Georgia

The Problem:
Shoreline Erosion Puts Ecosystems
and Archeological Sites at Risk

The Project:
Creating
a Living Shoreline