S.C. Department of Environmental Services (SCDES) Receives Notable State Document Award for Coastal Atlas Resource

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 
March 19, 2025 

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Today, the S.C. Department of Environmental Services (SCDES) received a 2024 Notable State Document Award from the S.C. State Library for development of the South Carolina Coastal Atlas, a public resource that provides valuable information about South Carolina’s coastal environment. SCDES received the award during a reception at the State Library, alongside other winning agencies. 

The South Carolina Coastal Atlas is an ArcGIS StoryMap designed to provide user-friendly information about the history, data, tools and services related to South Carolina’s Coastal Management Program. The Coastal Atlas was developed by SCDES’s Bureau of Coastal Management through funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

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SCDES's Bureau of Coastal Management was presented with a 2024 Notable State Document Award from the South Carolina State Library for the development of the S.C. Coastal Atlas web tool. Pictured from left to right are Jessica Boynton, SCDES Coastal Services Section Manager; Chris Yates, State Library Deputy Director; Lyndsey Davis, SCDES Coastal Services Project Manager; and Chris Stout, Chief of SCDES's Bureau of Coastal Management. (Photo courtesy of the South Carolina State Library.)

“We couldn’t be prouder to receive this celebrated recognition from the South Carolina State Library,” said Chris Stout, Chief of SCDES’s Bureau of Coastal Management. “Not only does the Coastal Atlas provide easy-to-access data and information for the public, it includes a historical overview of how the state’s coastal environment has been protected over the years, as well as some pretty remarkable imagery of the South Carolina coast.” 

Users of the Coastal Atlas can navigate major milestones along the Coastal Management Program’s historical timeline, from the 1973 inception of the Coastal Zone Planning and Management Council, through state government restructuring over the decades, to present-day Coastal Program initiatives. The Coastal Atlas allows users to explore data and applications using interactive features on the ArcGIS StoryMap platform, and it highlights information related to the state’s critical areas, living shorelines, public beach access, beach erosion, beach renourishment, hazard vulnerability, King Tides, abandoned boats and more. 

The S.C. State Library’s Notable State Documents Awards Program began in 1991 as a way to recognize exemplary state publications. The awards spotlight notable documents that are eligible for one of three categories: monographs, serials or websites. A complete list of the 2024 winners is available on the State Library’s website at statelibrary.sc.gov. 

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