Posted on April 26, 2023
Two Alabama coastal rehabilitation projects have been awarded more than $27 million in grant funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, The Nature Conservancy in Alabama recently announced.
About $14.6 million will go toward the Coffee Island restoration project in Mobile County and more than $12.8 million will go to the Perdido Watershed Initiative in Baldwin County and neighboring Escambia County in Florida.
The two projects are among a total of 38 across the U.S. supported by $265 million in grant funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“This is a huge win for Alabama and those who poured their collective hard work into aligning these two projects to meet NOAA’s goals,” Mitch Reid, state director of The Nature Conservancy in Alabama, said in a written statement. “We look forward to getting both initiatives off the ground and thank everyone at NOAA for seeing the impact these bring to Alabama’s ecosystem.”
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 southeast shoreline of the Mississippi Sound island, according to a press release from TNC.
The Perdido Watershed Initiative is a four-year, large-scale, multi-site project aimed at enhancing both ecosystem and community resilience in the Perdido watershed in Alabama and Florida.
“The magnitude of the amount of NOAA grant funds coming to Alabama is impressive, and we are proud of TNC and all Coffee Island and Perdido Watershed partners for their collaboration and shared vision in bringing such huge wins to our state,” said Chris Blankenship, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
For more information on The Nature Conservancy in Alabama and its projects, visit here.
