Liz King: Serving the Environment and the Community

Elizabeth (Liz) King, Naturalist Advisor to the Kiawah Conservancy and Director of Outdoor Programs for the Kiawah Island Golf Resort (KIGR), will tell you what she does on Kiawah is not simply a job, but a way of life. Wearing many hats since she began working as a naturalist for Kiawah in the summer of 1992, she had just earned her Masters in Biology in New Jersey and was visiting her brother in Charleston when she answered an ad for a summer job with the Kiawah Island Golf Resort. Her enthusiasm, warmth, and progressive ideas ensured that she would become a full time employee, and a legend on Kiawah.

Liz worked her way up to Nature Program Manager at Heron Park Nature Center, and was a major contributor to the development of a key program that now includes 45 tours led by 18 naturalists. This well-loved tour gives children and adults a look at the gorgeous flora and fauna found on the Island. The program introduces nature and conservation issues to many residents and visitors and is one of the most popular on the Island. Crediting this to the creativity and spirit of innovation in the young, idealistic people she has hired, Liz is modest that this outcome is largely attributable to her own example.

In February of 2007, Liz was named KIGR’s Director of Outdoor Programs. Before she accepted the position, she wanted assurance that she would be allowed to incorporate nature into all the programs she was to oversee, and that the Resort would continue to be environmentally sensitive. She need not have worried: The Resort has been recycling since the early 1990s. One of her first jobs, in fact, was to collect recyclables from Resort offices and deliver them to a facility in Charleston. Today, the Resort has implemented the Green Vision Initiatives, which include seafood sustainability, compost creation, toxic waste reduction, and mandatory recycling in all departments. The recycling area at the business end of the Sanctuary is a futuristic mixture of containers holding everything from wooden pallets to fluorescent bulbs and oyster shells.

Liz King is proud of the work that she does and the company she serves. She feels that she is working in a context of cooperation among disparate members of the Kiawah community including KIGR, the Town of Kiawah Island, the Kiawah Island Community Association, and the Kiawah Conservancy. Her vision is long-term, and she has clear ideas for the realization of these goals. She believes that individuals can play an important part in incorporating habitat initiatives in their own living spaces, using native plants, and creating wildlife habitats in their backyards. She is a leader in preserving the island’s gorgeous natural beauty, and has set an example to follow for all who visit and reside here.