Coastal Alabama is known for its white-sand beaches and seafood industry. It boasts a dynamic system of dunes, marshes, beaches, bays, rivers, oyster reefs and barrier islands, with the Mobile Bay watershed at its heart. Coastal Alabama is home to a stunning array of wildlife and marine life, including more than 350 species of birds and more than 335 species of freshwater and saltwater fish.
Mobile Bay provides critical nursery grounds for a multitude of commercially and recreationally important fish and shellfish species. The state’s thriving seafood industry supports more than 17,000 jobs, and recreational and commercial fishing combined generate $1 billion annually in the state.
In total, Alabama is certain to receive more than $1.3 billion dollars that can be used for restoration as a result of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Roughly a fifth of these funds have already been awarded or are in the process of being committed to projects that include building living shorelines, expanding the Grand Bay National Wildlife Refuge and completing a full suite of thirty-one watershed plans for Mobile Bay. The remaining money will become available over the next decade and a half.
Oyster Bay Wetlands Preservation and Enhancement
Oyster Bay and its wetlands serve as an important nursery area for economically important fish and shellfish such as white shrimp, brown shrimp, blue crab, redfish, spotted sea trout, and others. The marsh area also provides habitat for resident and migrating birds and other wildlife. These wetlands consist primarily of black needlerush and salt grass, with some sloughs interspersed throughout the marsh, and pine flatwoods located to the east. This project would protect and provide public access to 350 acres of wetlands and marsh in Oyster Bay.
Project Status:
Conceptual > Feasibility & Planning > Engineering & Design > In Progress > Completed
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Mobile Causeway Hydrologic Restoration – Justin’s Bay
The Mobile Causeway, built in the late 1920s, restricts the natural hydrologic connection between the Mobile-Tensaw Delta and Mobile Bay. The causeway has profoundly altered the hydrology, water quality, salinity, and ecological function of the system—harming finfish, shellfish and other wildlife in the bay and in the delta. The project proposes to elevate the causeway at Justin’s Bay, restoring tidal exchange in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta by re-connecting it to Mobile Bay.
Project Status:
Conceptual > Feasibility & Planning > Engineering & Design > In Progress > Completed
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