consistent with the natural resources of the area. Recently, officials of 

 Florida, Alabama, and Georgia cooperated to obtain Federal funding for a com- 

 prehensive river basin study, but Federal budget cuts have reduced funds for 

 this study. 



The most significant response to the conflicts over the Apalachicola 

 River was the designation of the river and bay as a National Estuarine Sanc- 

 tuary under Section 315 of the Coastal Zone Management Act. The sanctuary 

 encompasses 78,000 ha (192,750 acres) of which 54,900 ha (135,680 acres) is in 

 existing state-owned estuarine waters and submerged lands. The wetlands asso- 

 ciated with the river are among the most biologically productive in North 

 America, and this productivity is a direct link to the valuable fisheries in 

 Apalachicola Bay. The major goal of the estuarine sanctuary program is to 

 fund research to provide the necessary information to ensure rational manage- 

 ment of the system. Other important aspects are to enhance public awareness 

 of the functioning and value of the system and to ensure that the ecological 

 perspective is included in all development decisions pertaining to the river 

 and bay (Apalachee Regional Planning Council 1980). 



The features of the estuarine sanctuary program are sport and commercial 

 fishing, hunting, nonintensive recreation, education, navigation including 

 maintenance dredging, continuation of existing permits and spoil disposal 

 practices until a comprehensive spoil disposal plan is developed, and contin- 

 uation of the existing shellfish rehabilitation program. 



Prohibited activities are the incorporation of new public works projects 

 that require dredging or additional filling until completion and adoption of a 

 long-temi disposal plan, oil drilling, except slant drilling, from outside the 

 sanctuary boundary, and significant alteration of flow patterns (U.S. Depart- 

 ment of Commerce 1979). 



Designation of the Apalachicola River and Bay as a National Estuarine 

 Sanctuary was a valuable format for reducing conflicts among competing uses. 

 There have been five sanctuaries designated in the country, two of which are 

 in Florida. 



BARRIER ISLANDS 



The barrier islands in Northwest Florida that are most important to the 

 coastal ecosystem are Santa Rosa Island, Shell Island, Crooked Island, St. 

 Vincent Island, St. George Island, and Dog Island. Although not islands, 

 Perdido Key and St. Joseph Spit function in much the same way. The islands 

 range in length from 6 mi (Shell Island) to 55 mi (Santa Rosa Island). All 

 except St. Vincent Island are no more than a half nile wide. 



Barrier islands are so named because they provide a barrier for protect- 

 ing lagoons, marshes, estuaries, and the mainland from the direct forces of 

 storms and waves. The islands are constantly shifting and changing because of 

 wind, waves, and currents. Among the several valuable functions that barrier 

 islands perform in their natural state is their role as the first line of 

 defense against hurricanes and major winter storms. They absorb enormous 

 wave, wind, and tidal energy. Beaches and dunes may shift substantially as a 

 result of these forces, sometimes growing larger by deposition, and sometimes 



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