It’s never too early to teach your kids about the importance of not littering and keeping our beaches clean. Young Oliver is a great example to show age should not stop anyone from helping the community and planet. Clean Horizons is a mission created by Oliver to help influence other families to reduce plastic waste and get involved in ways to help the environment. Follow along with Oliver to see all the adventures his family and Clean Horizons is up [...]
Water covers 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, but just 3% of that water is fresh. It is vital to our environment that we are taking care of our waters. August is recognized as Water Quality Month. It’s an opportunity to educate others on the importance of protecting our water resources. Water pollution is happening at an alarming rate. We should all be doing our part to raise awareness and reduce pollution. How can you help? Pick up after your [...]
For the past 35 years, the Alabama Gulf Coast has been a part of an amazing project that helps clean up the coastline we all enjoy. Come be part of this movement on September 17, 2022, from 8 a.m. until noon, as we celebrate the 35th Annual Alabama Coastal Cleanup. What is the Alabama Coastal Cleanup? This is Alabama’s largest volunteer event. Neighborhoods, parks, streets, beaches and even storm drains are part of the cleanup. Picking up litter leaves the [...]
Random Acts of Kindness Day is February 17. Have you considered spending that day along Alabama’s Gulf Coast? Random Acts of Kindness Day is intended to celebrate and encourage random acts of kindness. We want to inspire you to use this day to be kind to the beach, to do something to help, and be kind to the environment. So go to the beach or take a friend (or several) with you. Stroll along Alabama’s Gulf Coast and look around [...]
You don’t have to be an expert birder to enjoy bird watching at the beach. Alabama’s coast is the last stop for many fall migrating birds heading south over the Gulf of Mexico. A few species arrive in the fall and stay for the winter. If you are here during the fall months, be on the lookout for migrating raptors. Cooper’s hawks arrive on the coast in October in large numbers. You can also see sharp-shinned hawks and northern harriers during [...]
Are you a bird watcher? On your next trip to the beach, plan a day to see the sights and birds along the way. You don’t have to be a birding expert to enjoy time exploring the six loops of the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail in Baldwin and Mobile counties. Using Gulf Shores and Orange Beach as the home base, you already have the advantage of watching the shore birds as they run back and forth with the waves. The [...]
Can you picture a sand dollar? The almost-flat white disc has a five-pointed flower petal shape on the back. In Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, numerous broken sand dollar pieces can be found mixed with shells. Look down as you walk near the shore and you’ll occasionally find a whole one, usually about the size of a half dollar. Have you ever seen a live sand dollar? If you stroll the beach frequently, chances are you have. The live sand dollars found on the shoreline here are usually small (think bottle cap size), and can range in color from brown to gray and [...]
Most restaurants on the beautiful Alabama Gulf Coast have oysters on the menu. Fried, grilled, broiled, baked, or in soups and stews, oysters are one of the most popular seafood choices harvested from our coastal waters. With so much oyster eating going on, have you ever thought about what happens to all those oyster shells? The Alabama Coastal Foundation, along with restaurant partners, created an oyster shell recycling program to put the shells back into the water. After the empty shells are collected from restaurants, they are [...]
Earlier this year we were reminded of how fragile our beautiful coastline is. Hurricane Sally visited and definitely overstayed her welcome with hours of hurricane-force winds and torrential rain battering our beaches, homes and businesses. Do you know what is the greatest natural protection we have from storms? The sea oats and other vegetation that help hold our dunes together. The stately sea oats can create a root system as much as 10 times the size of the rest of the plant. All of those roots hold on to sand. As sea oats [...]
The Alabama Gulf Coast is a wonder. The endless blue skies, emerald water that gently laps on the sugar-white sands, the smell of fresh salt air and the shells you find scattered along your path. All wonders. All part of our natural environment. It’s easy to want to take home a treasure from the beach. A symbol of the memory of the day spent on the Alabama shores. But we want future generations to continue to enjoy the shores, soak [...]
