NFWF awards Mobile Co. to construct Living Shorelines Project along the Dauphin Island
The Mobile County Commission receives award from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to construct a Living Shorelines Project along the Dauphin Island Causeway
Aerial shot of the current condition of Dauphin Island Causeway | Photo by Mobile Co.
On March 19, 2020, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) announced new Alabama projects to be funded by the Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund (GEBF) and designed to remedy harm and reduce risk of future harm to natural resources affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Mobile County Commission will receive more than $9.39 million to complete engineering design to construct habitat-friendly breakwater structures and create intertidal marsh habitat on the east side of the Dauphin Island Parkway/State Route 193. This project will create and protect critical coastal marsh habitat; enable natural processes to maintain nearshore habitats; and reduce the erosive forces of tidal action, wave energy, and storms to the shoreline and vulnerability of the only access route between south Mobile County and Dauphin Island. This is a large scale restoration project that will beneficially use material dredged from the Mobile Ship Channel to build emergent marsh habitat.
Initial planning and design activities were co-funded through NFWF’s National Coastal Resilience Program and the GEBF, while design completion, permit acquisition, and construction implementation will be co-funded through NFWF’s Emergency Coastal Resilience Fund (ECRF).
A comprehensive watershed management plan for the complex of Mobile Bay’s western shore watersheds – Garrow’s Bend, Deer River, and Delchamps Bayou – is currently in development, with shoreline protection at the forefront of management recommendations. Meanwhile, this project addresses goals and objectives of the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan’s five-year Ecosystem Restoration and Protection Strategy by improving ecosystem function and resilience through protection, restoration, and conservation of coastal Alabama shorelines. The CCMP, developed by over 200 Management Conference partners from federal, state, and local partners; businesses and industry; academia and citizen groups, is based on local input and supports local priorities that protect water quality, sustain populations of key living resources, manage vital habitats, mitigate human impacts, and build citizen stewardship. It provides a road map for estuarine resource management in Alabama. The MBNEP is a partner to the Mobile County Commission with roles in securing funding and project oversight.
The mission of the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program is to provide the necessary tools and support community-based efforts to promote the wise stewardship of the quality and living resources of Alabama’s estuarine waters.
Dauphin Island Causway Grant Award Press Release (PDF, 3/19/2020, 312KB)
