Abstract
In 2013, the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (MBNEP) embarked upon a holistic, watershed-based approach to guide coastal ecosystem restoration and protection measures recommended through watershed management planning. The MBNEP’s five-year Ecosystem Restoration and Protection strategy initiated this novel approach which prescribes the development of watershed management plans (WMPs) to ensure that restoration projects are based in science and fit into an overall management program. A watershed approach is a shift from traditional land use planning, where geopolitical boundaries limit what can be done to address problems. Conversely, a WMP is concerned with areas, independent of political boundaries, that drain to common receiving waters. This planning process, guided by the MBNEP’s Project Implementation Committee and watershed stakeholders, charts a conceptual course for improving and protecting the things people most value about living along the Alabama coast. In addition to meeting requirements for watershed planning specified by EPA’s Nine Key Elements, these plans also encompass issues related to environmental health and resilience, heritage and culture, public access, and critical coastal habitats identified by the MBNEP’s Science Advisory Committee as most threatened by anthropogenic stressors. Improving water quality and maintaining healthy populations of fish and shellfish are at the base of ensuring what is most important to people living along the Gulf coast: access to Gulf waters; abundant fish and shellfish; protection of heritage; environmental health and resilience; and water that is fishable, drinkable, and swimmable.
