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• Video: Deer River Coastal Marsh Stabilization and Restoration Project

Deer River Restoration

Located within the Deer River Watershed (HUC 031602050205), the Deer River marsh system is an approximately 275-acre tract of salt marsh in Mobile County, Alabama, surrounding the Middle and South Forks of Deer River and bordered on the north by the Theodore Ship Channel and Theodore Industrial Port, to the west by undeveloped land, and to the south by the Hollinger’s Island residential community. Its erosion-impacted Mobile Bay shoreline is over one mile (5,600-feet) long. The center of this marsh system is located at 30°31’05.20” N 88°06’00.02W. The property is owned by Chicago Deer River Property LLC and Theodore Bay Shore Lands. While the North Fork of the Deer River has been replaced by the Theodore Ship Channel, extant reaches of the Middle and South Forks of the river are impacted by siltation and extremely shallow, limiting tidal exchange and circulation necessary to sustain the currently healthy marsh. The marsh exhibits a characteristic zonation of healthy native salt marsh vegetation, with a corridor of salt meadow cord grass (Spartina alterniflora) directly adjacent to tidal creeks giving way to a broader expanse of black needle rush (Juncus roemerianus).

The 5,600-foot shoreline of the 275-acre Deer River salt marsh tract on the western shore of Mobile Bay directly south of the Theodore Industrial Canal. The shoreline has experienced significant recession from storms, tides, and ship wakes. The network of tidal channels, including the South and Middle Forks of Deer River, which are extremely shallow and impaired by siltation, limiting tidal exchange and circulation necessary to sustain the currently healthy marsh. A major focus of MBNEP’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) is to improve the effectiveness of landscape-scale resource management and habitat restoration and conservation strategies. Intertidal marshes and flats; along with freshwater wetlands; and streams, rivers, and riparian buffers; were identified by MBNEP’s Science Advisory Committee as the three most anthropogenically-stressed coastal habitat types.

Intertidal marshes and flats, like those surrounding the Deer River tidal creek network, represent one of the world’s most biologically-productive natural communities, supporting dense stands of only a few robust species of herbaceous plants and some shrubs. Birds, wildlife, and finfish visit salt marshes to dine on the small or juvenile fish, crustaceans, snails, and bivalve mollusks they support. Intertidal marshes and flats are also important to the human community, acting as storm buffers, absorbing wave energy and reducing shoreline erosion, and improving water quality by absorbing excess nutrients from the water column and stormwater runoff. They provide nursery habitat and refuge for the many commercially and recreationally-important fishery populations valued by coastal residents

If you have questions about the Deer River Watershed Management Plan or any related restoration efforts, please feel free contact us.