The state Budget and Control Board is expected today to designate three critical shorebird rookeries in the Lowcountry as sanctuaries.

The board will vote on a reworked Natural Resources Department proposal for Deveaux Bank, Crab Bank and Bird Key.

"It was pretty clear the Budget and Control Board was not going to pass it as it was," said John Frampton, Natural Resources director.

The board now proposes allowing tidal beach access year-round at Deveaux Bank, the biggest nesting ground of the three islands.

The original proposal virtually would have closed the publicly owned islands that are habitual stops for boaters, except for opening tidal beaches when birds aren't nesting. The other two will be off limits during nesting season. Dogs won't be allowed on any of the three.

The islands are three of only five protected rookeries in the state for sea and shorebirds such as brown pelicans, royal terns, oyster catchers, black skimmers, snowy egrets and least terns. They also have become rest stops for boaters and those who love to party. Biologists suspect human and dog intrusion is contributing to a decline in the numbers of those birds.

Deveaux Bank in recent years has produced more nests than the other two combined. Crab Bank, the 16-acre island at the mouth of Shem Creek in Charleston Harbor, is the most heavily used by people and dogs.

Surf fishermen and others like the isolated, open oceanfronts of 35-acre Bird Key at the Stono River inlet between Folly Beach and Kiawah Island, and 215-acre Deveaux Bank between Seabrook and Edisto islands.

After the February DNR board vote, three Charleston-area residents who have property in the estuaries south of Charleston, and whose families have long used Deveaux Bank, began an e-mail campaign and approached the legislative delegation to maintain their access.

Reach Bo Petersenat 745-5852 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.