Preserving and restoring the Gulf Coast’s vulnerable ecosystems has been a top priority for us in Alabama and in neighboring Gulf States. Recently, private and public partners collaborated to add important acreage to the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge to protect critical wildlife habitat, expand recreational opportunities and support local economic growth.

In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill desecrated the Gulf Coast, disturbing fragile ecosystems, impacting wildlife habitat and disrupting ecotourism businesses that rely on a bountiful coast to thrive. To combat this devastation, land protection and coastal restoration has become a clear priority in Alabama and beyond.

Our Role

In partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, we were able to purchase and transfer 470 acres to become part of the refuge. We transferred the property in two phases thanks to funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund, which was established by a federal court order in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Why This Project Matters

The newly conserved property features a variety of coastal habitats, including shorelines, pine flatwoods, saltwater marshes, freshwater lagoons and wetlands, dune systems, maritime forests and tidal creeks. The living shorelines and interior terrain provide ideal habitats for several threatened or endangered species, including Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, snowy plovers, piping plovers, Wilson’s plovers, and Alabama beach mice. The land ultimately increases the protected coastal habitat at the Little Point Clear Unit by approximately 25%, a boon for both wildlife and public recreationists, and has the potential to benefit migrating manatees on the northern Gulf Coast.