Current Programs & Projects

Michaux's programs and projects promote environmental education and long-term stewardship of the Noisette Creek Preserve, a tidal creek surrounded by 160 acres of degraded salt marsh. We work with the city of North Charleston and partner organizations toward achieving this goal.

By providing holistic and innovative programs and projects, we increase awareness of our interconnection with nature. This holistic approach views humans, animals, plants, and their surroundings as a single interconnected system. Water, land, air, and all living organisms in and on them, are intrinscially linked.

Although the connection often goes unnoticed, this basic truth affects all areas of our lives. For example, we encourage natural, nonchemical lawn and garden care, because stormwater runoff carries these chemicals to our waterways. We discourage the dumping of chemicals and litter into our storm drains, because these pollutants travel directly to our waterways. All life requires water to survive, therefore toxins in our water adversely affect all life. And because all life depends upon food to survive, toxic plants and wildlife adversely affect all life.

Numerous U.S. cities are plagued by the degradation of their urban creeks, yet many communities have triumphed in their battle to restore these pockets of nature. The result is access to open space for recreational use and increased opportunities for seafood harvesting . These cleaner, more enjoyable urban environments have resulted in higher property values, an enhanced economy, and improved public health. On the other hand, excessive surface water runoff and poor water quality threatens property values and tax revenues, "with the potential to erode the economic vitality of the community and thereby contribute to urban decay."

For all of the aforementioned reasons, our funding and resources go toward restoration and protection of the Noisette Creek Preserve, and toward increasing awareness of every person's role in caring for our environment. Our ultimate goal is a clean, accessible, enjoyable and scenic urban ecosystem for use by all current and future generations of North Charleston residents.