This SC community saved a 200-year-old oak tree. Here’s how you can do the same

When Murrells Inlet residents learned of plans to remove a beloved 200-year-old live oak tree, they used social media to rally others to their cause and save the tree.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation planned to axe the historic oak during construction to improve safety at the intersection of Tadlock Drive and the Highway 17 connector. But some residents argued that, while traffic safety improvements are necessary, the tree doesn’t have to come down.

“I was alarmed because the tree is huge and beautiful and makes a grand entrance into Murrells Inlet, which I felt should be saved and, obviously, the more trees we lose, the greater the flooding problem is here,” said local Pamela Mills Talbert. “... and so, I sort of started a campaign.”

Talbert found out about the decision to remove the tree on Facebook and began reaching out to environmental groups to sound the alarm.

When local citizens’ group Preserve Murrells Inlet, which works to address land use and environmental problems, started posting about the tree on the Sustainable Murrells Inlet Facebook page, people took notice.

“For a small community like Murrells Inlet, that whole issue just became viral,” said Gary Weinreich, one Preserve Murrells Inlet’s director. “I think we’ve had close to 40,000 views on those various posts.”

Weinrich believes that the outcry on social media changed the oak’s fate. One supporter who weighed in on a Sustainable Murrells Inlet post urging people to contact state Rep. Lee Hewitt, state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch and SCDOT Chairman Tony Cox, was Goldfinch himself.

“That tree won’t come down. They’ll prune it and that’ll be it,” Goldfinch commented.

A spokesperson told The Sun News plans to reverse course and save the oak were made in conversations involving Hewitt and Goldfinch about the best way to complete construction.

“This is a project that’s in its very early phases, so we’re going through kind of the design phase and finalizing that, and so it’s just constant conversation. It’s not that we had it a certain way, and that was what we were sticking to, it was that we’re kind of trying to figure out what works best,” SCDOT media relations manager Hannah Robinson said. “So it was like a not set in stone thing and now it’s set in stone.”

Robinson confirmed that the live oak will not be removed and instead will be pruned by a certified arborist to address overhang in the road. SCDOT doesn’t currently know if or how the decision to keep the tree will impact construction, but Robinson said it won’t, “greatly affect the project.”

“It’s not just one voice in the wilderness,” Talbert said. “I hate to use a cliche, but it really does take a village. It takes a lot of people to become involved. And you should never think that just one voice isn’t enough. Everyone has a voice, and everyone should be able to use it.”

This story was originally published August 29, 2024 at 6:00 AM.