Millions Awarded In Grants For Mobile, Baldwin Counties

The Nature Conservancy in Alabama announced it has been awarded more than $27 million of $265 million in transformational habitat restoration and coastal resilience funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Funding will be split between two coastal Alabama projects, with $14.6 million going to the Coffee Island Restoration in Mobile County and more than $12.8 million to the Perdido Watershed Initiative in Baldwin County and the adjoining Escambia County, Florida. These two projects are among a total of 38 across the U.S. supported by this grant funding, which is supported by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law with funding leveraged from the Inflation Reduction Act. The Coffee Island Restoration project will implement a 5,000-ft living shoreline breakwater to help create and enhance habitat, as well as to protect the southeastern shoreline of the Mississippi Sound island. The Perdido Watershed Initiative is a four-year, large-scale, multisite project aimed at enhancing both ecosystem and community resilience in the Perdido watershed in both Alabama and Florida through the integrated planning, implementation and monitoring of multiple restoration approaches and techniques.

Additionally, according to AL.com, $7.7 million was allotted for the Gulf of Mexico Alliance to administer a regional competitive grant program for large marine debris removal in the Gulf of Mexico. Restore America’s Estuaries will receive $4.9 million to restore oyster reef habitat at sites across the Gulf of Mexico region. Restaurants will participate in a comprehensive oyster shell recycling program to help build oyster reefs that provide habitat for a diverse group of species, including recreationally and commercially important fish and their prey. The Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium is receiving $1.9 million to address the problem of microplastics through a partnership including 10 wastewater treatment facilities in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Finally, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is receiving $1.1 million to conserve and protect sensitive tidal marsh, pine flatwood and savanna habitats on West Fowl River/Mississippi Sound in Mobile County and $147,000 to help protect the ecological integrity of the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve area in Fairhope and the ecosystem services it provides, such as acting as a buffer for storm surge and coastal flooding, providing space for marsh migration, providing carbon sequestration services and maintaining water quality.