01/30/2009
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Accreted Land Management Plan
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2253 [30 JANUARY 2009]
Town of Sullivan’s Island, SC
FIGURE 6.2. Aerial photo of Capers Island in 17 February 2007 showing mature maritime forest up to the sea-
ward edge of the island and downed trees littering the active beach. (Photo by TW Kana)
Visual Impacts – While no attempt is made here to illustrate the rate of change in the height
of successional vegetation, it is realistic to expect that grassland habitats will typically produce
visual barriers of the order 5 ft high; shrubland communities grow to ~20-ft heights; and mari-
time forest grows to well over 50-ft heights. It should be apparent that views of the ocean are
a function of three factors: (1) height of the vantage point, (2) distance to the beach, and (3)
height of the intervening landscape. Ocean views will be blocked when the elevation of the
vegetation (or dune) equals the elevation of the vantage point. Typical first-floor and second-
floor vantage points would be ~20 ft and ~30 ft above mean sea level (respectively). Based
on these parameters and the typical AL land elevations of 8–12 ft above mean sea level, shrub
vegetation of the order 10 ft or higher is likely to block views from the first-floor level of most
existing homes along the oceanfront. Modest-sized dunes with 10 ft or more of relief are simi-
larly likely to block first-floor views even if grass remains the dominant vegetation type along
their crests. Forest vegetation, if not thinned or eliminated along broad corridors, is expected
to block ocean views from any first- or second-story vantage point.