ALABAMASpring 2017 • nature.org/alabama

Director’s MessageDear Friends,

I have three active children, so nature and the outdoors are a huge part of family activities. From hunting with my daughter to fishing with my twin boys to quiet evenings on the deck with my wife, we enjoy all the natural beauty Alabama offers. With people and nature at the forefront of our efforts at the Conservancy and Alabama leading the nation in freshwater biodiversity, we’re concentrating our energies on the state’s freshwater ecosystem. We’re working with private landowners and key influencers to help protect freshwater for drinking and irrigation, outdoor recreation and environmental services like absorbing floodwaters. A project of this magnitude will be demanding, but with your continued support we will succeed.

Yours in conservation,

A portion of the Grand Bay Savanna, a Forever Wild tract, in Mobile County © Beth Maynor Young

Paint Rock River Restoration © Hunter Nichols INSET: Aerial photo of the Paint Rock River in northeast Alabama and roughly 20 miles from Huntsville

Stream Bank RestorationPaint Rock RiverGrass is growing at the site of the longest stream bank restoration project in the history of the Alabama chapter. Located in northeast Alabama and roughly 20 miles from Huntsville, the stream bank restoration on the Paint Rock River is approximately 750 linear feet. Using Natural Channel Design Methods, Conservancy staff worked with the Jones Family, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Tennessee Valley Authority in late October to install two large rock veins and reshape the river bank to help stop the erosion of thousands of tons of sediment. In Alabama rivers, sediment is the leading cause of damage to aquatic biodiversity and wildlife. Since 2000, the Conservancy has been working with both private and public partners to reduce sediment loads in the Paint Rock River. Including the Jones Farm project, the largest and most complex, we have completed 38 projects in the area.

Forever Wild: Return on InvestmentThe Trust for Public Land, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, conducted an analysis of the return on investment in land conservation through Forever Wild Land Trust and found that every $1 invested in land conservation returned $5 in natural goods and services, such as improving wildlife habitat. Forever Wild acquisitions also support the tourism, hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation industries. Read the full report at nature.org/alabamavoice

Roger W. ManghamAlabama State Director

SUPPORT OUR WORK Thank you for helping us protect the lands and waters of Alabama. To make a gift, visit support.nature.org/alabama or donate via check (payable to “Nature Conservancy—AL Chapter”) using the envelope in this magazine. Thank you!

Roger W. Mangham © The Nature Conservancy (Martin Taylor)

Judy Haner © Ami Vitale

ALABAMA

Clockwise: Qinhuangdao Beidaihe National Park, Hebei, China © The Nature Conservancy; A portion of the cityscape in Beijing © The Nature Conservancy (Judy Haner); Second International Symposium on Marine Economy © The Nature Conservancy

Meet Judy Haner, Marine Program DirectorJudy Haner is the Marine Program Director for The Nature Conservancy in Alabama, where she oversees marine, estuarine and freshwater restoration, coastal ecology, regional conservation efforts, and ways to link communities with resources. Judy joined the Conservancy in 2010, just months before the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Now a key member of the Conservancy’s Gulf of Mexico team, Judy has spent countless hours focused on post-spill recovery and long-term restoration efforts in Mobile Bay and the larger Gulf region. She helped conceptualize

The Science of East Meets WestAcross the State of Alabama, we’re creating innovative, on-the-ground solutions that could also address some of the world’s toughest challenges. For example, we’ve been able to help protect and restore coastal wetlands used as stopover sites for some 325 bird species that use the 600-mile Gulf Flyway, part of the 2,300-mile Mississippi Flyway. As we’re refining our scientific techniques, a similar challenge is happening in China. The bird population along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, which supports the migration of almost 500 bird species, has dropped precipitously, with some species declining 60-80 percent just in the past 25 years.

At the invitation of the Paulson Institute, The Nature Conservancy in Alabama’s Marine Program Director Judy Haner traveled to China in October 2016 to participated in two international practicums. She explains, “The International Seminar on Beidaihe Coastal Wetlands and Water Birds Conservation in Beidaihe, Qinhuangdao, China, began with a field trip to the expansive tidal flats and then the coastal wetlands in the watershed at Beidaihe National Wetlands Park. It was a first-hand opportunity to gauge the similarities and differences of our respective coastal wetlands.” Haner outlined probable restoration opportunities for China as a result of active, on-the-ground projects along Alabama’s Gulf Coast. China has lost more than 60 percent of its natural coastal wetlands due to its fast economic development. “In Tianjin, during the Second International Symposium on Marine Economy, I shared the Conservancy’s Global Ocean Team’s Blue Growth by Design initiative, using project-specific economic examples from Alabama. In Beijing, I led a discussion with Conservancy colleagues around best practices in marine and freshwater programs. Fish migration and the damming of rivers, development encroachment, and finding ways to align economic and environmental priorities are among our similarities and challenges,” says Haner.

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and initiate the “100-1000: Restore Coastal Alabama” project to build 100 miles of oyster reefs (essential to shoreline protection and wildlife habitat) and enhance 1,000 acres of coastal marsh and seagrass. With public and private funding, the Conservancy and its partners installed the first quarter mile of reef in early 2011 with the help of public agencies, private partners and more than 500 volunteers from across the country. Judy has worked for 20 years with state agencies from Puerto Rico to Florida to Alaska in partnership with NOAA, linking watershed activities with estuarine health to implement long-term coastal, estuarine and marine restoration. When not at work, Judy is usually on her boat with her husband and two dogs, fishing, diving and swimming along the Gulf coast.