Name: 2024 SCACAA & SCAE4-HA AM/PIC -Beaufort, SC
Start: 2024-05-15T12:00:00-04:00
End: 2024-05-17T12:00:00-04:00
Location: Holiday Inn

$2024 SCACAA & SCAE4-HA AM\/PIC -Beaufort, SC$

SCACAA & SCAE4-HA Annual Joint Meeting and PIC in Beaufort, SC - May 15-17th
About this Event

Join us for the 2024 SCACAA & SCAE4-HA Joint AM/PIC in Beaufort, SC. This professional development opportunity is open to any member of SCACAA or SCAE4-HA and other invited guests.

Hotel – Holiday Inn - 2225 Boundary St, Beaufort, SC 29902

A room block is already in place if you’d like to make your reservations. The cost is
King - 139.00
2 Queens - 149.00

Reservations: Call the hotel front desk at 843-379-3100. Provide the booking code SC Association of County Agricultural Agents.

*Room reservations must be made directly with the Holiday Inn. The cut-off date for making room reservations is 4/14/2024. After this date, uncommitted rooms will be released from our block, and reservations will be accepted on a space and rate-available basis.

Tuesday - May 14
Pre-Conference Service Project: Building Oyster Habitat
Time: 1:00 - 3:30 PM
Location: Port Royal Maritime Center
Description: After a brief description of the project and demonstration on how to build the MWR (Manufactured-Wire-Reef), volunteers will listen to music and build as many MWRs as possible. Questions specific to the project or random marine biology questions are welcomed.

*The service project is limited to 20 people

Wednesday - May 15

10:00 AM SCACAA Board Meeting
11:00 AM SCAE4-HA Business Meeting
12:30 PM Registration
1:30 PM Welcome & Conference Logistics
1:45 PM Conference Warmup With Ben & Sydney
2:15 PM State of Extension
2:30 PM Professional Development Session 1
3:30 PM Specialist Lightning Talks
4:00 PM Professional Development Session 2
5:00 PM Hotel Check-In/Prepare For Banquet
6:00 PM Social Reception
6:30 PM Awards Banquet (Holiday Inn Ball Room) - Communications Awards sponsored by ArborOne and AgSouth Farm Credit
DSA & AA Awards, Certificate of Merit, Media Award, Friend of Extension Award, Specialist Award
8:30 PM Hospitality

Thursday - May 16

7:00 AM Breakfast
9:00 AM Begin departing for tours (see descriptions below)
2:00 PM Tours begin returning
6:15 PM Depart for Sunset Cruise Social
8:30 PM Sunset Cruise Ends

<h4>Tour Options:
*Tour itineraries are subject to change.</h4>

Tour 1: Spring Island

Join us for a tour of Spring Island. Spring Island is a private community located near Beaufort, SC. On this tour, you'll learn what makes Spring Island special. Spring Island is over 3,000 acres, with 1,800 of them in a nature preserve. On this tour, you will visit Waterfall Farm, which is maintained by 2 farmhands and 50+ volunteers from the community. If the farm has crops that are ready to be harvested, we will assist them with the harvest, and they will be donated to a local food bank. In addition to the farm, we will go on a Nature Safari hosted by Coastal Kingdom's Tony Mills. Tony also coordinates the Lowcountry Master Naturalist Program. We will load up on a wagon to explore the various habitat types and critters (some may have legs or no legs) that Spring Island has to offer.
Nature Safari with Coastal Kingdom's Tony Mills: https://www.coastalkingdom.com
Waterfall Farm on Spring Island: https://www.springisland.com/the-farm/

Please note that this tour will be 100% outdoors. There may be periods of walking around in fields, woods, marsh, etc. Please wear appropriate footwear, clothing, and proper sun protection. Binoculars are also encouraged! In addition, Tony Mills is a snake-lover, so one or two may make an appearance

Tour 2: Oysters and Nemours

When you think of Beaufort, SC, you think of oysters and the ACE Basin. On this tour, we will visit and sample some of the Lowcountry's finest oysters at Lady Island Oysters. We will learn about oyster production in the Lowcountry. We will also get to visit the Nemours Wildlife Foundation. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public, non-profit organization housed on the nearly 10,000-acre Nemours Plantation in northern Beaufort County, South Carolina. Nemours contains a rich diversity of habitats, including remnant rice fields, fresh and brackish water marshes, upland pine and hardwood forests, bottomland hardwoods, and cypress/tupelo forests. The plantation lies within the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto (ACE) River Basin, which consists of 1 million acres of diverse habitat and represents one of the largest undeveloped estuaries on the East Coast. It is listed by The Nature Conservancy as “one of the last great places.” Learn how rice production has shaped
Lady Island Oysters: http://singleladyoysters.com
Nemours Wildlife Foundation: https://nemourswildlifefoundation.org

Please wear appropriate footwear, clothing, bug spray, and proper sun protection. Binoculars are also encouraged! We will be on an open-air trailer at Nemours; conditions can be windy.

Tour 3: Oysters and Penn Center

When you think of Beaufort, SC, you think of oysters and the ACE Basin. On this tour, we will visit and sample some of the Lowcountry's finest oysters at Lady Island Oysters. We will learn about oyster production in the Lowcountry. In the afternoon, we'll visit the Penn Center. The campus of the former Penn School, one of the nation’s first schools for formerly enslaved people, is one of the most significant African American institutions in existence today. This historic and cultural institution is a National Historic Landmark District and comprises two of the four sites in the Reconstruction Era National Park.
Lady Island Oysters: http://singleladyoysters.com
Penn Center: https://www.penncenter.com/

Please wear appropriate footwear, clothing, bug spray, and proper sun protection.

Tour 4: Seaside Grown & Morning Glory Homestead
The award-winning Seaside Grown brand emerged from a century-old tomato farm deeply rooted in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. In addition to shipping large volumes of fresh tomatoes along the East Coast, the company also utilizes fruit too ripe for market to produce 19 different products. The second part of the tour will explore Morning Glory Homestead, a family farm on St. Helena Island that uses sustainable and regenerative agricultural methods to serve the community.

Seaside Grown: https://www.seasidegrown.com/

Morning Glory Homestead: https://www.morninggloryhomestead.com/

Tour 5: Port Royal Sound Foundation Maritime Center: Ecology of the Sea Islands

Salt Marshes are dynamic ecosystems that abound with life dictated by the ebb and flood of the tides. The Port Royal Sound is one of the most unique estuarine bodies found in the South Atlantic. Join us in the classroom and the pluff mud and explore this South Carolina coastal gem.
Port Royal Sound Foundation Maritime Center: https://portroyalsoundfoundation.org/visit-the-maritime-center/
It is recommended that participants bring boots to walk in the mud flats or a change of shoes (ones that you don't mind being muddy). Bug spray, sunscreen, and a hat are also recommended.

Social:

Sunset Cruise on May 16th. Space is limited to 70 people.

Salty Dog Cruise: https://prsftsaltydogcruise.square.site.

Friday - May 17