Ģ��Av

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Earlier today, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) announced that it had awarded the state of Alabama and Birmingham Ģ��Av Society, in partnership with Mobile Bay Ģ��Av, a Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund (GEBF) grant of $1,465,000 to launch its Alabama Coastal Bird Stewardship Program.   

“Mobile and Baldwin County shorelines provide habitat critical to bird species of conservation concern that, with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, we will now steward to more robust populations,” said Suzanne Langley, Executive Director, Birmingham Ģ��Av Society. “These same shorelines attract residents and tourists to watch birds and visit surrounding communities. While our staff and volunteers protect these birds, they will also educate the public about the value of Alabama’s natural treasures.”

The two-year program will direct the stewarding and monitoring of priority shorebird and waterbird populations across the Alabama coast, as well as conduct outreach to engage the public in protecting critical bird beach nesting sites. In response to the threats posed to bird populations by habitat loss and human alterations to ecosystems, Ģ��Av’s Alabama chapters will train volunteers as citizen-scientists to monitor and protect sites at key nesting points throughout the year. Birmingham Ģ��Av and Mobile Bay Ģ��Av chapter members have monitored targeted conservation species and other coastal birds for decades at many of the sites that will be part of the Alabama Coastal Bird Stewardship Program. 

“The Alabama coast is vital for the conservation of birds across the Gulf,” said Ģ��Av’s Vice President for the Gulf and Mississippi Flyway, Chris Canfield. “We couldn’t be more pleased to join in the partnership led by the State of Alabama and our Birmingham and Mobile chapters in launching this stewardship effort. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation continues to support the kinds of projects that can help make the Gulf, its wildlife and people whole again.”

The launch of Alabama’s Coastal Bird Stewardship program completes similar Ģ��Av initiatives currently in operation across the Gulf in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The GEBF was established by NFWF in 2013 to administer a total of $2.544 billion from early agreements between the U.S. Department of Justice and BP and Transocean over the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. Through this fund, NFWF supports programs that work to address damages from the spill.  

Given the injury to hundreds of thousands of birds from the oil disaster as well as ongoing ecological and human threats, these Ģ��Av programs and others across the Gulf Coast are crucial to guarding and stewarding the long-term health of bird populations there. See Ģ��Av’s coastal bird stewardship program in action in the following video:  

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About Ģ��Av

The Ģ��Av saves birds and their habitats throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education and on-the-ground conservation. Ģ��Av's state programs, nature centers, chapters and partners have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire and unite diverse communities in conservation action. Since 1905, Ģ��Av's vision has been a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Ģ��Av is a nonprofit conservation organization. Learn more at and .

About Birmingham Ģ��Av Society

Birmingham Ģ��Av Society is one of the oldest organizations in Alabama advocating conservation and greater knowledge of birds, habitat and the natural world. Birmingham Ģ��Av is a 501(c)3 originally chartered in 1946. Birmingham Ģ��Av is a staffed, certified chapter of Ģ��Av serving Jefferson, Shelby, Bibb, Blount, Chilton, St. Clair and Walker Counties and supporting projects throughout the state. National Ģ��Av members within these counties are recognized as members.

Contact:

Jacques Hebert, jhebert@audubon.org, 504.264.6849