The Nature Conservancy, as part of the 100-1000: Restore Coastal Alabama Partnership, proposes to build 100 miles of oyster reef breakwaters/living shorelines, which will in turn help to protect and promote the growth of more than 1,000 acres of coastal marsh and seagrass. This project propose to add ½ oyster reef breakwater (~200 ft) to a project funded for 4 ½ breakwater reefs, so that 5 full breakwater reefs can be constructed.

Grant funding will allow the Conservation 20/20 program to hire a contractor who can kill invasive exotic plants from approximately 82 acres on Galt Preserve, a 265 acre preserve in Lee County, Florida. The most common invasive exotic plants on site are melaleuca, Brazilian pepper and Australian pines but other invasive exotic plants that will be treated are Guinea grass, carrotwood, and rosary pea.

The goal of this proposal is the maintenance, expansion and planting of coral nurseries that enhance local populations of corals. Currently project managers are using nursery techniques known as the “Floating Underwater Coral Array” (FUCA).

This project sought to use reclaimed oyster shells from coastal bend restaurants and seafood wholesalers to restore 3.8 acres of Lap Reef in Copano Bay, Texas. As part of a larger effort, we have been stockpiling reclaimed shells at a repository located on land leased from the Port of Corpus.

This project will protect fish and wildlife habitats and important human infrastructure on Elmer’s Island in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. Community volunteers from the greater New Orleans Area will propagate indigenous plant species which will be out-planted onto Elmer’s Island to stabilize the beach and enhance dune formation along a critical low lying beach.

Bayou Auguste connects to Biloxi’s Back Bay and extends west for one half mile into East Biloxi. The mouth of the bayou is currently constricted by a bridge and the banks are degraded from the dumping of broken concrete slabs.

The This project involved installation of near shore, wave attenuating structure to promote oyster attachment and planting of intertidal, shoreline marsh vegetation on Mon Louis Island along the western shore of Mobile Bay to create and enhance subtidal and intertidal habitat and stabilize sediments.

In Clam Bayou, less than 5% of the shoreline has a canopied red mangrove shoreline. Degradation of the red mangrove habitat was caused by recent hydrological impairment (2000-2006) exacerbated by hurricane damages (2004). Seasonal flooding and poor water quality resulted in the loss of large areas, which are now covered by standing dead trees.

The Newman Branch Creek Habitat Restoration Project, located in southeast Hillsborough County, Florida, will be undertaken in an effort to restore estuarine and freshwater habitat in the Tampa Bay area. The project will involve the removal of invasive exotic species, primarily Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius) and the re-creation of a variety of native estuarine, freshwater, and upland habitats.

La Parguera is a coastal town that entertains over 100,000 visitors a year. Tourists come to enjoy the town’s natural attractions - diverse coral reefs that are home to threatened Acropora palmata and A. cervicornus and a bioluminescent bay. However, storm water runoff from the hillside town and streets flow directly into the tidal waters and mangroves carrying high levels of pollutants that are damaging the nears shore coral reefs and sea grass beds.

An all volunteer, community based project team is working to develop and implement a long term strategy for building, protecting and restoring surrounding marshlands / wetlands by recycling uncontaminated canal dredge materials removed from residential boating canals and access channels within the Village of Tiki Island.

The project site is located on a strip of beach that separates back bay and marsh habitat from the Gulf of Mexico. The project site is now beach habitat that was historically located further into the Gulf of Mexico (previously known as the “Caminda Spit”) but has now retreated further inland. The Elmer’s Island site has similar physical characteristics and vulnerabilities when compared to Bay Champagne/Fourchon Beach, the location of our small-scale 2008 dune restoration project that was funded by GOMF.

This project will restore approximately 3 acres of brackish marsh habitat through the use of volunteer labor to plant a minimum of 6,000 salt tolerant plants on the crown of existing terraces located in a highly eroded marsh area adjacent to the Barataria Bay Waterway in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana.

Deer Island restoration project will protect 800 linear feet of shoreline on the north-east corner of the island from erosion by creating a break-water/berm. Approximately 700 cubic yards of recycled oyster shell will be deployed in 1 inch mesh wire bags/shell containers along the shoreline 2-3 bags high. The mesh wire bags will eventually rust away leaving the oyster habitat free of debris/trash (Plastic mesh bags will not degrade).

Gulf Islands National Seashore (GINS) contains some of the last remaining undeveloped barrier island beach dune systems in the Florida panhandle.

Tampa Bay Watch’s Bay Grasses In Classes Program (BGIC) provides middle and high school students with an educational resource to learn about ecological and agricultural practices, while enhancing the science-based curriculums at their schools. Students actively participate in restoration activities, and work side by side with scientists to perform wetland restoration in Tampa Bay.

Seagrass meadows are disappearing, and so too are the services they provide to other animals in the sea. The best estimate is that we have lost over 25 percent of seagrass meadow coverage in the world’s ocean in the last four decades.