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PRITCHARD’S ISLAND i-/✓ m-m ■-7-* m ^>1'-*-:-mW-w-«-2-1 Pritchard’s CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 million and $1.3 million for the island at an auction in 1978, to allow McCollum and a group of students to monitor and protect the sea turtles. “They were just going to camp on the beach, but Phil Rhodes thought it was a great idea and gave them the keys to his house and to his Jeep and all this kind of stuff,” VonHarten said. By 1983, the turtle project had become so successful that Rhodes decided to do _a _ j.i_: . uaic nit- io land to the use Development Foundation. The stu dents initially worked out of what VonHarten called the two “roundhous es” construct ed in the ’70s, but erosion and exposure to the elements caused the buildings’ eventual collapse. “The roundhouse was starting to fall in the water and started getting a little tilt to it, and McCollum decided, well, the uni versity needed their own place,” said VonHarten. Through dedicated fund-raising, scrap collecting and knocking door to door, McCollum gathered enough material and volunteers to build the university’s own facility, soon dubbed the “Loggerhead Hilton.” This one-room, eight-bed dormi tory-style building was used from 1986 un til around 1992, when it also succumbed to nature. In 1991, the university began construc tion on a new facility, the Philip A. Rhodes Barrier Island Research Facility, boasting modern conveniences such as hot running water and air conditioning. Now equipped with a 3,450-square-foot research facility/dormitory, four bed rooms that can fit 22 guests, two Yamaha Big Bear ATV 4-wheelers, a tractor, a barge and several boats, USC’s Pritchard’s Island plays host to nature lovers, re searchers and artists alike, all seeking to learn from this barrier island. “People come for educational purpos es,” including the sea turtle project, said VonHarten. The turtle project is the island’s main purpose. “We’ve really increased the research that’s gone on with the turtle project,” said Amber VonHarten, island research coor dinator. Amber VonHarten, who has helped modernize the process of tagging and tracking sea turtles, said Pritchard’s is becoming internationally known for its turtle work. “We’ve done several conser vation-management-techniques kind of studies, and we presented at three inter national sea turtle symposiums.” Whether it be a local high school sci ence class learning about water chemistry, students from a Georgia private school ex amining marine ecology, art classes from USC Columbia seeking inspiration, or vol unteer nature conservationists from the South Carolina Wildlife Federation, peo ple of all ages, genders and backgrounds come to Pritchard’s Wand to learn about and enjoy its unique ecosystem and envi ronment. “You can read in a book all you want about ecology and everything about bar rier islands, but if you actually come and experience it, then you really get a good feel for it,” Amber VonHarten said. “So many people come down, and they’ve nev er been on the coast before, and they’re just exposed to so many different things out here — it’s really a unique experi ence.” It is this experience and the fulfilling work with turtles that continues to attract visitors. “Most of these groups have been here for the turtle season, so pretty much that’s j.1__• __ uro mum i ca* son I guess a lot of us come — for the tur tles,” said Cheryl Marlowe, a volunteer from the South Carolina Wildlife Federation who has been coming to the island for about two years. Besides, she said, “not everybody gets to go to a barrier island.” Amber VonHarten said: “I don’t know what it is about those turtles, but they make people do crazy things. People just love them, and they want to help in every way that they can.” Bo VonHarten said, “A lot of these peo ple have been coming for 10 and 15 years, and they’ve never missed a summer.” Ed Close, another Wildlife Federation volunteer, agreed. “I just love coming out here so much that I’ll do just about anything,” he said. Close also said he enjoys working with the turtles. He said he was able to count the largest turtle nest of the season in July last summer, “and then got to come back Labor Day weekend and actually inventory the same nest after it hatched.” Bo and Amber VonHarten, who look after the facilities and the island, ar range for groups to visit, and conduct the research and education on the island, have high hopes for the island in the fu ture. “With all the development going on on the coast, especially in Beaufort, if you think this place is a jewel now, what is it going to be in 50 or 100 years when every thing around it is all built up and devel oped and there’s a million people living in Beaufort?” Bo VonHarten said. “What’s this island going to be worth then?” To the volunteers and workers who spend their time at Pritchard’s, it is worth a lot already. What was once a deserted island is now a bustling place of relaxing and reward ing activity where visitors can appreciate the beauty of nature, learn about the ecosystem and give back to the world. To Bo VonHarten, this is no coinci dence. “Phil Rhodes bought a house on Fripp. If Dave McCollum hadn’t moved to Fripp, it probably wouldn’t have happened. If we weren’t getting turtle nests, it probably wouldn’t have happened,” he said. “It’s just like all the stars and planets lined up for it to happen, and it did.” / Comments on this story?E mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com PHOTOS BY JONATHAN GOLEY Top: Pritchard’s Island is mostly marshland. Left: A skeleton of a loggerhead sea turtle sits on a shelf in the house and is used to help Amber and Bo VonHarten research sea turtles. Above: Bo VonHarten takes the boat out for a ride. The boat is the VonHartens’ main source of transportation to and from the island. BY ALEXIS STRATTON THE GAMECOCK It’s not easy working with your spouse — especially when you live on an uninhabited island. Bo and Amber VonHarten, island manager and research coordinator, re spectively, for USC’s Pritchard’s Island, live and work on an island inhabited by only themselves and periodic visitors. And while they say it’s been hard at times, both agree it’s worked out for the best. “Working with your spouse is hard — it really is,” said Bo VonHarten. “It’s definitely for the better, but, God, we’ve had our moments though.” The VonHartens both have USC ma rine biology degrees, and, before they were married, they each took different jobs — Amber in Tallahassee, Fla., and Bo at Pritchard’s Island. “The deal was whoever liked their job the most or hated their job the least or whatever — I was either going to move to Tallahassee or she was going to move” to Pritchard’s, said Bo. “It turned out that Amber ended up moving here.” Amber said they got married on May 15,1999, and “had to be at work Monday morning.” ml __1. _ JL lie VV Ul IV XiCACJ iiv/ V UV/V11 VUJJ . “I think there’s just a huge miscon ception about what we do out here,” said Amber. “I think a lot of people think that we just lay in a hammock all day and roll over to grab our fishing poles.” The logistics of living on a semideserted island, however, can at times be confounding. “Just getting drinking water, or tak ing the trash out, or having to go to thef' hardware store in Beaufort for the 50 cent nut that you need — yeah, it’s a lot of plan ning,” said Bo. “You al ways look in the week or five days or four days ahead of time, trying to anticipate what you need because you just can’t stop by the store on Amber the way home.” VonHarten Simply to go grocery shopping, they have to drive 23 minutes to Beaufort, plus a 10-minute boat ride. “It’s a good lesson in discipline be cause you really find out what you real ly need and what you can really live without,” said Amber. Their work as a married couple has been key to the island’s cohesion. The two distribute responsibilities carefully to avoid conflict and try not to carry any conflicts they have back to their island home, a cottage just a short walk down the beach from the island dormitory/re search facility. seems nice iaoa lot more repair work and maintenance and boat work and boat captain and logistics, and Amber’s the grant writer; she’s the brains of the operation,” Bo said. Amber, who does most of the work with the turtles and research, said the division of labor has been helpful. “We try to be really careful about drawing a line on whose responsibility certain things are,” said Amber. “It’s definitely made (our marriage) stronger because it just takes a lot of patience and working together to work through prob lems or even just day-to-day issues that happen out here." The couple has made a lot of progress on the island during the past five years. “Since ’92 or ’93, they’ve had a care taker out here every year or two, said Bo. “A year or two was all you wanted to spend. That was all they could keep anybody on for.” With diligent work, Bo and Amber worked to make the island more hos pitable for visitors and themselves, and one of the first things they added was a washer and dryer. They’ve also refur bished their house on the island, barged a tractor over, revitalized the cistern system to increase the freshwater sup ply, and replaced the engines in the boats. With the improvements, the couple hopes future caretakers will enjoy the same longevity on the island they have. “We just tried to make it more livable so they’ll keep attracting higher caliber people,” Bo said. “We just want to leave it in a lot better shape than it was when we came.” As for when they expect a successor for the job, the VonHartens don’t know. > "When we first took this job, some body told us we wouldn’t be here six months, and it’s almost been five years now,” Bo said. “One day, I know we’ll just wake up and say, ‘You know, this really isn’t fun anymore,’ and we’ll know then it’s time to move on,” he said. That time hasn’t come for the cou ple, yet. "The husband-wife team kind of thing has really worked because you’re able to live out here and actual ly have a life besides work and have your spouse there,” said Amber. “It’s a true test of our marriage, and so far we’ve made it.” Comments on this story?E-mail <5r gamecockudesk @hotma il.com