Blog

2 11, 2016

Keeping our beaches healthy for the future

By |2016-11-02T14:47:48+00:00November 2nd, 2016|Blog|0 Comments

In Alabama, we’re pretty lucky. Visitors go to our local beaches expecting – and finding – beautiful and clean surroundings. That’s not how it is in all beach locations in the U.S. In 2013, for example, America’s beaches experienced more than 20,000 closing and advisory days for the third consecutive year because of polluted water or threatened contamination, according to the beach water quality report by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Fortunately for us, Alabama’s beaches top the list of [...]

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26 10, 2016

Saying Goodbye to the Sea Turtles

By |2017-12-20T04:33:15+00:00October 26th, 2016|Blog|0 Comments

More sea turtle hatchlings have made it to the relative safety of the Gulf of Mexico from our beaches than in years past, according to Mike Reynolds, turtle czar for Share the Beach, the Alabama sea turtle conservation program. As of September, approximately 14,000 sea turtle hatchlings had emerged from nests along the Alabama Gulf Coast, but Reynolds reminds us the season is not over yet. “Higher numbers are being reported all along the northern Gulf Coast, from here to [...]

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21 10, 2016

Facts about Ocean Trash

By |2016-10-21T00:38:23+00:00October 21st, 2016|Blog|1 Comment

Creating trash-free seas is becoming more challenging each year because of the steady stream of plastic flowing into the world’s oceans. In 2015, the journal Science estimated between 5 and 14 million tons of plastic annually are found in the ocean. Stemming the tide of plastic flowing into the ocean is a necessity for the more than 2.6 billion people who rely on the ocean as a primary source of protein. Leave Only Footprints, the initiative adopted by Gulf Shores [...]

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12 10, 2016

Keeping the coasts clean for the next generation

By |2016-10-12T12:46:49+00:00October 12th, 2016|Blog|0 Comments

What are your memories of visiting the Alabama Gulf Coast? Walking past sand dunes that rose over your head before finally hitting the Gulf of Mexico? A blue-green gulf so clear you could see your toes in waist-deep water? Yes, indeed. We have a beautiful paradise that stretches along 32 miles of white-sand beach. And we want to keep it that way. Those memories you have of beautiful beach vacations should be experienced by your kids and grandkids. Leave Only [...]

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5 10, 2016

Tips for Teaching Toddlers Beach Conservancy

By |2016-10-05T22:26:48+00:00October 5th, 2016|Blog|0 Comments

Want to teach your toddler beach conservancy? Take him or her to the beach! Toddlers learn best through firsthand experience. On your trip to the beach, first explain to your toddler the various creatures that live on the beach and in the water and depend on a healthy ecosystem for their lives. Together, search for the holes dug by burrowing crabs. Point out the sea oats and explain how this native plant anchors the sand so that we are protected [...]

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28 09, 2016

Safely picking up beach trash

By |2017-12-20T04:33:15+00:00September 28th, 2016|Blog|0 Comments

Comfortable shoes and sunscreen. Those are two of the items volunteers used to create a trash-free Alabama Gulf Coast. Hats, gloves, water and trash bags are also items that came in handy when cleaning the beach. The Alabama Coastal Cleanup, held in conjunction with the International Coastal Cleanup, was Sept. 17, 2016. In Baldwin County that day, volunteers were asked to help collect trash and debris toward the goal of creating a healthy coastline and ocean. In its 28-year history, the [...]

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21 09, 2016

Adopt a sea turtle

By |2016-09-21T21:30:35+00:00September 21st, 2016|Blog|0 Comments

Want to do something more to help sea turtles? Adopt a nest! Share the Beach, Alabama’s Sea Turtle program, seeks donations from those who want to protect the loggerhead, green and Kemp’s ridley turtles. These aquatic neighbors return to the Alabama Gulf Coast, where they hatched, to lay their own eggs. Funds from the Adopt-A-Nest program are used to buy new equipment and to educate the public. Donation levels include: Shoreline Sponsor - $250 Nesting Sponsor - $50 Hatchling Sponsor [...]

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14 09, 2016

Teaching kids about marine debris

By |2016-09-14T14:30:51+00:00September 14th, 2016|Blog|0 Comments

Marine debris: objects that do not occur naturally in oceans, salt marshes, estuaries and beaches. The top debris items include objects you may have seen on the beach, such as •    Cigarette filters •    Food wrappers •    Containers, caps and lids •    Cups, plates and utensils •    Beverage bottles •    Plastic bags •    Glass bottles •    Beverage cans •    Straws/stirrers •    Rope Leave Only Footprints, the new initiative adopted by both Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, seeks to reduce the [...]

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9 09, 2016

How to Protect the Habitat of Sea Turtles

By |2016-09-09T16:02:03+00:00September 9th, 2016|Blog|0 Comments

Five months out of each year, the Alabama Gulf Coast plays host to nesting sea turtles and their hatchlings. Three species nest on our shores: green, Kemp’s ridley and loggerhead. All are protected by the Endangered Species Act. When mama sea turtles are ready to seek a safe place for their eggs, they return to the area where they took their own first crawl to the Gulf of Mexico. The hatchlings hope to make it to the water without being [...]

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24 08, 2016

Sea Turtle 101

By |2017-12-20T04:33:15+00:00August 24th, 2016|Blog|0 Comments

Sea Turtle Season is upon us and there are 127 nests so far, according to Mike Reynolds, turtle czar of Share the Beach, which focuses on all things sea turtle in Alabama. From May 1 to Oct. 31 each year, loggerhead, green and Kemp’s ridley sea turtles return to the place they were hatched to lay turtle eggs. Share the Beach, a volunteer group formed by the Friends of the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge in Gulf Shores, patrols the beaches, [...]

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