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Gulf Guardian Award Winners 2005
TIE - Civic/Nonprofit Organization - 3rd Place
| Company: | Alabama Coastal Foundation | Click on the picture to view a larger size. Presentation of the Gulf Guardian Award for Civic/Nonprofit Organization, 3rd Place, to the Alabama Coastal Foundation for their project Mon Luis Island Marsh Restoration Project. From left, David Yeager; Bryon Griffith, Director of the Gulf of Mexico Program; winners Angela Montgomery and Barry P. Vittor; and Jimmy Palmer, EPA Region 4 Administrator. |
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| Project Name: | Mon Luis Island Marsh Restoration Project | |||
| Location: | Mon Luis Island, Alabama | |||
| Category: | Civic/Nonprofit Organization |
The Gulf of Mexico Program recently announced that the Alabama Coastal Foundation will receive a third place Gulf Guardian Award for 2005 in the Civic/Nonprofit Organization Category for the “Mon Luis Island Marsh Restoration Project”.
The Mon Luis Island Marsh Restoration Project is comprised of a previously-filled, dredge-material disposal site that was used by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The elevated areas of this site were dominated by the common reed, Phragmites australis, an invasive species that provides little habitat value. In addition to the increasing appearance of Phragmites, proliferation usually indicates some type of disturbance or environmental stress, including altered hydrology, filling, stormwater discharge, road salts or other water pollution. The Alabama Coastal Foundation restored approximately 5 acres of the spoil site. The new marsh area was then created on the top two-thirds of the peninsula by excavating down to natural marsh elevation and replanting with select indigenous marsh species. The result of the project was the restoration of the original marsh system that existed on the site prior to its use as a dredge spoil area in the late 1970s.
