Jeff DeQuattro Mobile, Alabama Coastal Projects Manager The Nature Conservancy Photo by Beth Young

Alabama Living Shoreline Projects Completed Mobile, Alabama Helen-Wood Park – 300 meters The Swift Tract – 1,715 meters Coffee Island – 1500 meters Here is a map showing the location of the two stretches of shoreline. Here’s Mobile Bay and then Downtown Mobile. And here is Coffee Island and the Alabama Port. Bon Secour Bay – ~250 meters Alabama Port – 750 meters

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Project in Mobile, AL $2.9 Million to create 1.5 miles of oyster reef breakwaters Create healthy oyster reefs to act as living shoreline breakwaters Enhance critical habitat fish and invertebrates Protect shorelines Create jobs Heavy pre-and-post restoration scientific monitoring. Demonstrate alternative to bulkheads Socio-Economic Survey Demonstrate how larger-scale oyster restoration improves environmental/economic resiliency. Here is a list of the goals of the project, and as you can see, in addition to creating or maintaining 35 – 40 jobs, the goals of the project are many.

Bagged Oyster Shell Full time crew of 12 to 20 people ~150,000 bags of oyster shell

Reef Balls Full time crew of about 6 people 3,168 Mini-Bay Reef Balls

ReefBLK Full time crew of about 8 to 10 people 492 ReefBLK units Photos by Beth Young and JoeBay Aerials

Socio-Economics of the ARRA Project in Alabama Number of Positions at Height of the Project = 84 positions Average Positions for almost 3 years (33 months) = 31.5 positions

ARRA efforts leading to larger scale restoration Identified areas to restore by consulting with… Natural Resource Managers Scientists Commercial Fishers Charter Fishers Recreational Fishers Community Leaders Underserved Communities Best Available Data

Socio-Economics of Restoration – Job Training Photos by Andrew Kornylak

Socio-Economics of Restoration – Volunteerism

Socio-Economics of Restoration – Volunteerism

Thank You! Photo by Jeff DeQuattro