Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund 2021 Awards

City of Foley
Bon Secour River Headwaters Restoration – Phase II
Begin implementation phase of an effort to improve approximately 1 mile of streambank and construct a 70-acre wetland system designed to treat urban runoff that is adversely affecting downstream fisheries. The constructed wetlands will address nutrient, sediment and debris flow to improve water quality in the lower Bon Secour River and Bon Secour Bay.
$5,100,000

City of Foley
Wolf Creek Headwaters Restoration – Phase I
Complete the engineering and design phase of a project to improve water quality within the Wolf Creek headwaters. This project area is the largest source of artificially high sediment runoff to Wolf Bay, an Outstanding Alabama Water. The project would consist of approximately 7,000 linear feet of stream restoration/stabilization, 36 acres of riparian wetland restoration, and a constructed wetland with floodplain enhancement encompassing the major headwaters of Wolf Creek.
$500,000

City of Mobile
Mobile Bay Shore Habitat Conservation and Acquisition Initiative – Phase II (Amendment)
Acquire, protect and restore high-priority properties containing undeveloped intertidal habitat within three distinct areas of the City of Mobile (Dog River, Garrows Bend and Three Mile Creek watersheds). Amendment to acquire 45 acres of coastal habitat along the Brookley bayfront.
$2,000,000

Mobile County Commission
Dauphin Island Causeway Shoreline Restoration Project – Phase II
Complete the design of and construct a 3-mile breakwater and 60 acres of coastal marsh in Mobile Bay, on the east side of the Dauphin Island Causeway. This effort will create and protect critical coastal marsh habitat, enable natural processes to maintain nearshore habitats, and reduce the force of wave energy to the shoreline.
$28,362,000

South Alabama Land Trust
Dauphin Island Bird Habitat Acquisition and Enhancement Program
Acquire and enhance important bird habitats on Dauphin Island to benefit shorebirds, wading birds and seasonal migrants. Due diligence and landowner outreach will be undertaken as the first step to acquire an estimated 13 acres of undeveloped habitat to protect critically important migratory stopover habitat and facilitate management of contiguous blocks of conservation lands.
$1,994,425

Town of Dauphin Island
Dauphin Island East End Beach and Dune Restoration – Phase I
Complete engineering, design, and permitting for the restoration of nearly a mile of beach and dune habitat on the east end of Dauphin Island, a 14-mile long barrier island off the coast of Mobile County. The initial project concept is to place an estimated 1.2 million cubic yards of sand along 4,800 feet of shoreline to restore 35 acres of beach and dune habitat. Additional measures such as planting and sand fencing would be included, as appropriate, to assist in retaining sand on the restored beach and dune system.
$1,400,000
 

Axiom Data Science
Increased Capacity for Marine Mammal Response – GulfMAP Database Transition
Transition the GulfMAP data entry system to a centralized cloud-based system to enhance data management and facilitate the integration of GulfMAP data within NOAA’s new CETACEAN data entry system. GulfMap was originally created to enhance data collection for Gulf-wide marine mammal stranding events.
$149,885

Clearwater Marine Aquarium
Increased Capacity for Marine Mammal Response (Amendment)
Enhance the marine mammal stranding network along the Florida Gulf Coast by providing established stranding organizations with supplemental staff, equipment and provisions to improve stranding response and data collection efforts. Project will provide for minimal capacity requirements to allow the organization to contribute critical stranding data to a centralized database on marine mammal health. Amendment to continue project activities until 2023.
$217,229

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Restoring Florida’s Shorebird and Seabird Populations – Phase II
Expand upon foundational work in Phase I to recover imperiled shorebird (American oystercatcher, snowy plover, Wilson’s plover) and seabird (least tern, black skimmer) populations within the state using five strategies: reduce human disturbance, manage habitat, manage predation, inform management and track outcomes, and improve regulatory coordination. Phase II will use information gained in Phase I to evaluate and revise population targets for each focal species and will include an evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of the five strategies. This phase will also enhance management of rooftop colonies to enhance nesting success and refine the use of predation management to maximize population benefits.
$2,863,762

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute
Restoring Florida’s Shorebird and Seabird Populations – Phase II
Expand upon foundational work in Phase I to recover imperiled shorebird (American oystercatcher, snowy plover, Wilson’s plover) and seabird (least tern, black skimmer) populations within the state using five strategies: reduce human disturbance, manage habitat, manage predation, inform management and track outcomes, and improve regulatory coordination. Phase II will use information gained in Phase I to evaluate and revise population targets for each focal species and will include an evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of the five strategies. This phase will also enhance management of rooftop colonies to enhance nesting success and refine the use of predation management to maximize population benefits.
$3,764,634

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute
Marine Mammal Pathobiology Lab
Construct a marine mammal pathobiology facility on the campus of Eckerd College in Pinellas County. The facility will serve as a hub for high-quality marine mammal necropsy activities that will increase understanding of the causes of illness and death, and inform early detection and intervention of anthropogenic and natural threats in marine mammals that strand off Florida’s Gulf Coast.
$6,766,000

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute
Increased Capacity for Marine Mammal Response (Amendment)
Enhance the marine mammal stranding network along the Florida Gulf Coast by providing established stranding organizations with supplemental staff, equipment and provisions to improve stranding response and data collection efforts. Project will provide for minimal capacity requirements to allow the organization to contribute critical stranding data to a centralized database on marine mammal health. Amendment to continue project activities until 2023.
$510,277

Gulf World Marine Institute
Increased Capacity for Marine Mammal Response (Amendment)
Enhance the marine mammal stranding network along the Florida Gulf Coast by providing established stranding organizations with supplemental staff, equipment and provisions to improve stranding response and data collection efforts. Project will provide for minimal capacity requirements to allow the organization to contribute critical stranding data to a centralized database on marine mammal health. Amendment to continue project activities until 2023.
$141,917

Mote Marine Laboratory
Increased Capacity for Marine Mammal Response (Amendment)
Enhance the marine mammal stranding network along the Florida Gulf Coast by providing established stranding organizations with supplemental staff, equipment and provisions to improve stranding response and data collection efforts. Project will provide for minimal capacity requirements to allow the organization to contribute critical stranding data to a centralized database on marine mammal health. Amendment to continue project activities until 2023.
$239,075

National Audubon Society
Restoring Florida’s Shorebird and Seabird Populations – Phase II 
Expand upon foundational work in Phase I to recover imperiled shorebird (American oystercatcher, snowy plover, Wilson’s plover) and seabird (least tern, black skimmer) populations within the state using five strategies: reduce human disturbance, manage habitat, manage predation, inform management and track outcomes, and improve regulatory coordination. Phase II will use information gained in Phase I to evaluate and revise population targets for each focal species and will include an evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of the five strategies. This phase will also enhance management of rooftop colonies to enhance nesting success and refine the use of predation management to maximize population benefits.
$3,292,620

Tall Timbers Research
Ladson Tract Conservation Easement
Permanently protect approximately 1,837 acres of habitat in the Big Bend region of Florida through a conservation easement. Over 1.8 miles of the Wacissa River and 2.4 miles of the Aucilla River are within the property boundaries, along with numerous sinks and springs that are a direct link to the underlying Floridian aquifer. The tract contains tidally influenced river systems and mature hydric hammock forests that help buffer tidal surge, store floodwater, reduce stormwater erosion, and deliver important freshwater to the coast.
$1,654,000

University of Florida
Increased Capacity for Marine Mammal Response (Amendment)
Enhance the marine mammal stranding network along the Florida Gulf Coast by providing established stranding organizations with supplemental staff, equipment and provisions to improve stranding response and data collection efforts. Project will provide for minimal capacity requirements to allow the organization to contribute critical stranding data to a centralized database on marine mammal health. Amendment to continue project activities until 2023.
$133,199
 

Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
Migratory Bird Habitat Creation in the Lower Mississippi River Valley
Create and enhance over 7,600 acres of migratory bird habitat in the Lower Mississippi River Valley. The project would ensure adequate shallow-water habitat is maximized within wildlife management areas, to meet or exceed the foraging requirements of numerous shorebirds, wading birds, and waterfowl populations during their southward migration to the Gulf of Mexico.
$6,027,000

Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
Reef Fish Assessment for Mississippi Coastal and Nearshore Waters: Restoration through Improved Data Collection and Management – Phase IV (Amendment)
Complete the final phase of data collection efforts to assess reef fish populations in coastal Mississippi and nearshore Gulf of Mexico waters through biological, environmental, and fishery-dependent components that will provide necessary data to reduce scientific uncertainty around factors influencing red snapper and reef fish population structures. Amendment to continue project activities until 2024.
$500,000

The Nature Conservancy
Enhancement of St. Louis Bay Oyster Reef
Expand an existing oyster reef in St. Louis Bay in Mississippi by 20 acres. Restoration will be accomplished through the deployment of clutch material at an existing 10-acre oyster reef site to add acreage and increase vertical relief. The vertical relief will ensure greater resilience to occasional incidents of low dissolved oxygen as well as enhance fisheries habitat.
$2,858,000
 

Ducks Unlimited
Hydrological Restoration of Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge Wetlands – Phase II
Restore and enhance the natural hydrology of the Chocolate Bay Prairie Unit (CBPU) of Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, a 9,500-acre expanse of critical coastal wetland and prairie habitat located in Brazoria County. The goal of this project is to remedy the negative effects of past alterations within the CBPU and to restore wetland hydrology that will mimic natural surface flow conditions and flood duration in a coastal grassland and wetland landscape.
$911,000

Ducks Unlimited
Greens Lake Shoreline Protection and Marsh Construction Project – Phase II
Construct 3.3 miles of shoreline protection breakwaters along a highly eroded section of the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway adjacent to the Greens Lake Marsh Complex. The Greens Lake Marsh Complex is a 5,100-acre coastal marsh complex adjacent to West Galveston Bay that consists of ecologically important coastal habitats including fresh and brackish coastal marsh, transitional high marsh and coastal prairie, dendritic tidal channels, and open water containing submerged aquatic vegetation and oyster beds. These habitats are critically important for numerous species of waterfowl, shorebirds and wading birds.
$4,025,000

Texas General Land Office
Powderhorn Lake and Matagorda Bay Shoreline Conservation – Phase I
Engineer and design more than 2 miles of shoreline stabilization within the Powderhorn State Park and Wildlife Management Area, a newly established conservation property made possible through the GEBF-funded acquisition of the historic Powderhorn Ranch in 2014. This project is part of a multi-phased shoreline stabilization and habitat conservation project that ultimately aims to reduce shoreline erosion and protect 5,300 acres of wetlands, including approximately 1,000 acres of emergent estuarine marsh along the shores of Powderhorn Lake and Matagorda Bay.
$560,000

Texas General Land Office
Carancahua Bay Habitat Preservation and Enhancement – Phase II
Complete engineering, design and construction of a 2-mile living shoreline to protect and restore the mouth of Carancahua Bay in Calhoun County. This investment will directly protect more than 1,000 acres of salt marsh, oysters, seagrass, and shallow water habitat complex, as well as up to 75% of intertidal salt marsh within the Salt and Redfish lake areas of the bay (624 acres).
$6,100,000

The Nature Conservancy
Powderhorn West Conservation Easement
Purchase a conservation easement on approximately 10,000 acres known as the Powderhorn West Ranch. The Powderhorn West Ranch is immediately adjacent to the 17,000-acre Powderhorn State Park and Wildlife Management Area purchased through the GEBF in 2014. The property is made up of substantial tidal marshes and flats, intermediate and brackish wetlands, wet prairies, and shorelines on Powderhorn Lake, which is part of the Matagorda Bay system, one of the most productive nurseries on the Texas Gulf Coast.
$5,379,000

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Bahia Grande Habitat Restoration – Phase II
Complete two components critical to the overall restoration of the Bahia Grande Unit of the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. The first compenent would complete design and construction of breakwaters to protect three bird nesting islands, totaling 17 acres. These quickly eroding islands support a broad list of shrub and ground nesting waterbirds such as herons, egrets, ibis, terns, skimmers and gulls, including what is likely the largest gull-billed tern nesting colony in the United States. The second component of this project will restore the hydrology of the Paso Corvinas wetlands, totaling 670 acres. Historic channelization and irrigation lead to high salinities and frequent drying out of these once-highly productive wetlands in Paso Corvinas.
$5,640,000