Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 awarded $1.7 million to the Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium (doing business as Dauphin Island Sea Lab) under the National Estuary Program (CFDA 66.456) to support implementation of a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) for an estuary in Alabama. The award, effective October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2030, funds activities designed to improve community understanding of estuarine health and coastal resilience while supporting watershed management planning and implementation across tidally influenced drainage basins. Key deliverables include water quality trend assessments, habitat and natural resource monitoring, Science Advisory Committee coordination, baseline and restoration monitoring data, and a watershed condition framework to track environmental status and trends.

The project will coordinate CCMP implementation among state, federal, and local agencies, stakeholders, non-governmental organizations, and citizens while monitoring the effectiveness of management conference-approved activities. Sub-awardees include the Create a Clean Water Future Campaign for government officials training, an in-house grassroots capacity-building and citizen monitoring program, and Bay Keeper for expanded volunteer monitoring activities. Expected outcomes include enhanced community participation in monitoring, improved understanding of pollutant loads, and increased public knowledge of environmental conditions. Primary beneficiaries are Alabama citizens and local communities within the designated estuary.