Project Description
On July 28, 2023, approximately 73.43 acres were acquired on the Fort Morgan Peninsula in Alabama and incorporated into Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge (BSNWR). The newly acquired land on Navy Cove was once the site of a settlement known as "Pilot Town". It was named for a community of bar pilots that helped ships navigate sandbars in Mobile Bay from the early 1800s until the town was destroyed by a hurricane in 1906. In addition to its historical significance, the area's scrub-shrub habitat, coastal marshes, and brackish inland lagoons provide habitat for a variety of species. Neotropical migratory songbirds, such as American redstarts and red-eyed vireos, use this area to rest, refuel, and seek shelter during their long-distance migrations. These habitats also provide important nesting and foraging areas for great blue herons and other wading birds.
This $6.5 million land acquisition was part of the Regionwide Trustee Implementation Group’s September 2021 Restoration Plan 1 to address the conservation and enhancement of nesting and foraging habitats for birds that were injured by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The purchase of this property was a collaboration between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). The refuge is one of the most important stopover sites for migratory birds following the Mississippi Flyway. It also provides critical habitat for endangered species such as the Alabama beach mouse, nesting sea turtles, and wintering piping plovers.
Restoration Land Ownership
Fish and Wildlife Service
Parties Implementing Restoration
Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; The Nature Conservancy
DOI Project Representatives
Fish and Wildlife Service