In 1978, cash receipts from sales of raw stumpage products were $3.2 million 

 for Mobile County and $12.5 million for Baldwin County. 



MARINE AND ESTUARINE SANCTUARIES 



While there are no officially designated marine or estuarine santuaries 

 located in the coastal counties of Alabama, several areas are being protected 

 and preserved by such agencies as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under 

 wildlife management programs. The major programs dealing with estuarine 

 sanctuaries recently have been, at the Federal level, under the Coastal Zone 

 Management Act (CZMA) of 1972 (Public Law 92-583) and at the State level, 

 under the Alabama Coastal Area Act of 1976 (Act No. 534). 



In late 1982, the State of Alabama initiated an application to the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), of the U.S. Depart- 

 ment of Commerce under the guidelines of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 

 1972, for the establishment of an estuarine sanctuary in the vicinity of 

 Weeks Bay (Pensacola quadrangle) in Baldwin County. Approximately 142 ha 

 (350 acres) of land had been purchased by the Nature Conservancy at that time 

 to be part of the sanctuary if and when it is actually established. Negotia- 

 tions are ongoing to add more land to that total in areas both east and west 

 of the Fish River bridge (Pensacola quadrangle) immediately north of Weeks 

 Bay. Total acreage is expected to be approximately 800 acres. Negotiations 

 between the State of Alabama and NOAA are ongoing at this time (Thurman 

 Shores, Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, Montgomery, AL, 

 23 May 1984; pers. comm.). 



NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGES 



On 9 June 1980, Congress passed Public Law 96-267, which authorized the 

 purchase of 4047 ha (10,000 acres) of land in Mobile and Baldwin Counties to 

 be set aside as the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. In fiscal year 1982 

 approximately $3 million were available for acquisition (William Swanson, 

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Atlanta, GA, 16 February 1982; pers. comm.). 

 Additional land purchases to complete acquisition will depend upon future 

 appropriations from the U.S. Congress. The refuge consists of four units: 

 Little Dauphin Island (Biloxi quadrangle), Little Point Clear, Perdue, and 

 Skunk Bayou (Pensacola quadrangle). The following information is taken 

 primarily from Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuqe: A Proposal (U.S. Fish 

 and Wildlife Service 1980). 



These ecologically fragile areas provide a buffer between the open ocean 

 and the highly productive and economically important brackish estuaries of 

 Mobile Bay. The estuaries are spawning and nursery areas for commercially 

 and recreationally important species, including many forms of crustaceans, 

 mollusks, fish, and birds. 



For over 90 species of migratory birds, the refuge is the staging area 

 and last major landfall before their trans-gulf migration, as well as the 

 first major landfall upon their return. The area also boasts about 125 

 wintering, 100 resident, and 40 nonresident species of birds. During a peak 



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