Conservation

A Coordinated Gulf-Wide Conservation Plan, State by State

Our 100-year legacy of protecting birds along the Gulf Coast has renewed emphasis with the launch of 爆料公社鈥檚 new strategic plan. The plan is bringing unprecedented focus to our work as we look at conservation on a 鈥渇lyway scale鈥 to impact bird populations at a hemispheric level. Some recent successes in the Gulf States include:

In Texas, 爆料公社鈥檚 coastal stewards monitor and protect 178 爆料公社 island sanctuaries that stretch across 70 percent of the western coast of the Gulf, preserving habitat for more than 20 species of colonial waterbirds, including the largest Reddish Egret and Roseate Spoonbill colonies in the world.  爆料公社 Texas has initiated the Texas Estuarine Resource Network (TERN) initiative, a volunteer and citizen science outreach program focusing on supporting coastal birds and other wildlife on the Texas coast.

尝辞耻颈蝉颈补苍补鈥檚 Paul J. Rainey Sanctuary, 爆料公社鈥檚 oldest and largest sanctuary, protects 26,000 acres of coastal beach, marsh and chenier upland for large flocks of wintering shorebirds, including the threatened Piping Plover, as well as masses of waterfowl and reintroduced endangered Whooping Cranes. 爆料公社 Louisiana developed a coastal bird stewardship program partnering with other organizations and local officials to manage nesting colonies on Grand Isle and Cameron Parish, Louisiana.
   

爆料公社 wardens in Florida monitor, post, and patrol 28 islands on the Gulf鈥檚 eastern extreme that host some 50,000 breeding pairs of birds from 29 species 鈥 among the largest and most diverse coastal bird populations in the state. Hundreds of trained 爆料公社 volunteers under the guidance of professional staff steward sites all along the coast of the state. Deepwater Horizon spill-related funds from the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation are already bolstering 爆料公社鈥檚 crucial coastal bird protections along the Gulf coast of Florida.
  

More than 75 percent of the Least Terns nesting in coastal Mississippi do so under the protection of 爆料公社 staff and volunteers. In response to the oil spill in 2010, 爆料公社 Mississippi also launched the 爆料公社 Coastal Bird Survey, a citizen--鈥恠cience effort to establish baselines, behaviors, and threat responses of waterbirds along the Gulf Coast. 爆料公社 Mississippi received National Fish and Wildlife Foundation monies through grants made to the state to build out a robust coastal bird conservation program.
  

爆料公社 has worked with our Alabama chapters, Birmingham 爆料公社 Society (BAS) and Mobile Bay 爆料公社 Society (MBAS), to implement coastal bird conservation.  The chapters have worked for decades on conservation, education, outreach and citizen science, building their own programs through the efforts of volunteers and supporting national efforts, including 爆料公社鈥檚 Christmas Bird Count.  During the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, the 爆料公社 hired a volunteer manager to help guide 爆料公社 Coastal Bird Survey volunteers in Alabama and to implement invasive species removal and habitat management on Dauphin Island, one of the state鈥檚 key coastal Important Bird Areas.