In 2023, the US Supreme Court issued its ruling in the Sackett vs. EPA case that essentially rolled back protections of freshwater wetlands that had been in place for decades under the Clean Water Act. This sudden loss of protections at the federal level meant it was up to the individual states to determine if and how they would protect wetlands that are not connected to navigable waters because, in most cases, state law referred to federal protections. And if states were not going to take measures to protect them, it would then fall to the local level.
The Town of Bluffton in Beaufort County and within the Port Royal Sound watershed is the FIRST municipality in the state to take up that mantle. They have developed an ordinance to protect freshwater wetland that has passed first reading by the Town Council, and will hopefully be enacted this spring. Thank you Bluffton!