A century ago, Audubon Texas made a commitment to protecting birds along the Texas coast. They started here.
Restoring the Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is one of America’s great ecological treasures.
The region is home to a vast array of bird species and other wildlife, including 11 of Audubon’s flagship species as well as six Audubon priority species. These species use the Gulf at some point during their life cycles, for breeding, overwintering or as a migratory stopover. These species represent at least 300 other species and the ecosystem on which they depend.
Audubon is committed to restoring the Gulf of Mexico by focusing on priority habitats for these and other species, from Texas to Florida and out to the open ocean. The challenges facing the wildlife and human communities in the Gulf have been, and will continue to be, significant. For that reason, Audubon is working to monitor the health of birds and the places they need in the aftermath of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.
Through sound science, policy leadership, and habitat conservation and restoration, Audubon and our partners are protecting and revitalizing ecosystems battered by natural and human-made disasters, and advancing measures to protect birds in the face of overdevelopment, extreme weather events, sea-level rise, and other climate change impacts. Now, with unprecedented funding available for Gulf restoration and a greater need for effective conservation, we’re implementing four strategies to protect, enhance, and rebuild bird habitat:
- Monitoring of flagship and priority bird species
- Strategic conservation planning and advocacy
- Coastal conservation and restoration through collaborative partnerships and programs, like the Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition
- Long-term stewardship
Comprehensive Gulf Restoration Plan
To make our coastal communities stronger and to protect habitat vital for birds and other wildlife, Audubon is recommending an investment of more than $1.7 billion dollars across the 5 Gulf states and regionally to fund a suite of 30 projects that are crucial to help the region’s birds recover.
Audubon scientists identified over 8 million acres of suitable habitat for priority bird species across the Gulf that should be prioritized for restoration and conservation. These habitats include barrier and bay islands, headland beaches, intertidal bars and flats, and saltwater marshes and range from south Texas to the Florida panhandle.
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