Sapelo Island is the fourth largest of a chain of barrier islands stretching along the Georgia coast from Savannah to St. Marys. The island is state-managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA DNR); it is 7-miles off of mainland Darien (McIntosh County) across the Duplin River. The Island is accessible only by a passenger ferry. Sapelo is home to the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve (GA DNR), University of Georgia Marine Institute, and the Hog Hammock community which is home to ~70 full-time residents.

 

Sapelo is 16,500 acres with a diversity of coastal habitats represented, including tidal salt marshes, beach and sand dunes, and maritime forests, interspersed with pockets of freshwater wetlands and interdunal swales. Sapelo is well known for their long-term ecological research which is afforded by the Island's protected status to the island and allows them to offer a suite of opportunities for research, education, and habitat management. Some of the founding work on marsh ecology took place on Sapelo Island by the late Dr. Eugene P. Odum, and they continue to be a leader in this arena.