Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve is a 10,000-acre natural area just west of Myrtle Beach. In 1989, this property was dedicated as a heritage preserve given its unique assemblage of Carolina bays, which are elliptical or oval depressions unique to the East Coast, longleaf pine forests, and rich biological diversity. It is also home to rare and endangered wildlife such as Venus flytraps, red-cockaded woodpeckers, and black bears. Lewis Ocean Bay is perhaps the most unique and biodiverse ecosystem in South Carolina. 
 
Sign today to help protect this treasure of South Carolina! 

Conway Medical Center is proposing to build a new hospital directly adjacent to Lewis Ocean Bay. Siting the hospital here would limit the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and South Carolina Forestry Commission in their prescribed burning capabilities.  

Prescribed fires at Lewis Ocean Bay, which are also called controlled burns, are critical for the conservation of this natural treasure. These fires mimic historical lightning-ignited fires and remove shrubby vegetation build-up so that rare plants, like the Venus flytrap, can thrive. Prescribed burning is also essential in managing wildfire risk for the surrounding communities. In fact, two of the state’s largest wildfires have already occurred in this area. Because of the surrounding roads, homes, highly flammable vegetation, sea breezes, and organic soils, this fire dependent ecosystem is already limited in how and when it can burn. Adding a hospital, a critical smoke sensitive area, would be detrimental. 
 
The bottom line is fire, smoke, and hospitals do not mix! 
 
If this development moves forward, we may lose this cherished habitat forever! And, as a result, could stand to lose the state’s only stable population of Venus flytraps.  
 
Venus flytraps only grow naturally in Horry County, South Carolina and just outside Wilmington, North Carolina and nowhere else in the entire world. This carnivorous, bug eating plant is currently petitioned to list as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Help protect Venus flytraps from being lost in South Carolina forever by signing this petition! 
 
Join us in speaking up to ensure prescribed fire management is continued, maintaining habitat for fire-dependent natural resources and protecting our communities from wildfires. There are many other suitable locations for a hospital, but there is only one Lewis Ocean Bay. 
 
Stand with Lewis Ocean Bay, and tell Conway Medical Center that their proposed location puts our communities and natural resources at risk. They MUST choose another site. 
 
For more information on this important habitat and the threats facing it, visit: coastalconservationleague.org/projects/lewis-ocean-bay-heritage-preserve/ 

The Coastal Conservation League has worked with communities, businesses, and citizen groups since 1989 to protect what we love about South Carolina. The Coastal Conservation League is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Learn more at coastalconservationleague.org.

To do more to protect Lewis Ocean Bay from external threats, visit http://coastalconservationleague.org/donate.