Acreage added to south Ala. refuge

BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. - The non-profit Conservation Fund, State of Alabama, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced Feb. 13 the protection of 251 acres at the Little Point Clear Unit of the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge thanks to funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s (NFWF) Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund. The non-profit purchased and transferred the property to the FWS. The addition of the acreage to the refuge will provide for expanded fishing, boating, walking trails, and other potential public recreational opportunities. Some 100,000 people visit the refuge annually which is located on the Fort Morgan Peninsula and adjacent to state and federally protected lands. The property features a variety of coastal habitats at Navy Cove, including its shoreline, pine flatwoods, saltwater marsh, freshwater lagoons, wetlands, dune systems, maritime forests, and tidal creeks; and provides ideal habitat for numerous species, including Kemp's ridley sea turtles. The Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund supports projects benefiting natural resources in and around the Gulf of Mexico by remedying damage and eliminating or reducing the risk of harm to coastal natural resources affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The fund is working with FWS and the state to protect an additional 236 acres of critical coastal habitat to the refuge’s Little Point Clear Unit in the future. Together these two additions will increase the protected lands in the refuge for wildlife and public recreation by some 25 percent. (Source: The Conservation Fund 02/13/18)