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NATURE
As the vacation experience evolves, families no longer want to spend all week basking in the summer sun on the beach. Nature-based tourism (also referred to as ecotourism or recreation-based tourism) has emerged as a popular vacation activity for many visiting Gulf Shores and Orange Beach as individuals seek out undistributed natural resources and unique outdoor activities. Some individuals prefer consumptive activities such as hunting or fishing while others choose nonconsumptive activities like bird watching or canoeing. Regardless of their preference, nature-based tourism results in increased environmental awareness while also satisfying the adventure-seeker or enabling others to reconnect with their families/friends or themselves.
Quick Facts
The Alabama’s coastal landscape offers
four diverse ecosystems, all uniquely located within one area. These ecosystems include an a ncient maritime live oak forest, wet longleaf pine savanna, fresh water marsh and small stream swamp forest.
Several
rare species call coastal Alabama home, such as the white topped pitcher plant, gopher tortoise, eastern diamond back rattlesnake and red-cockaded woodpecker.
Alabama’s coastal area includes
607 miles of shoreline along the Gulf, bays and inlets with over 400,000 acres of estuaries (where the rivers meet the sea). Mobile Bay is Alabama’s largest estuary, encompassing 264,470 acres of water and 142 miles of shoreline. Mobile Bay was designated a National Estuary in 1995.
The State of Alabama is consistently ranked in the
top five states for our overall biodiversity of plants and animals, with a total of more than 4,500 different species. This incredible species richness includes 144 endemic species, or organisms found only in the State of Alabama., with 100 species deemed globally rare.
Alabama’s marine area also contains nearly 1,260 square miles approved for the construction of artificial reefs in the
nation’s first and largest organized artificial reef program. The Alabama Dept of Conservation & Natural Resources has constructed 13 inshore reefs within Mobile and Bon Secour Bays through the “Roads to Reefs” partnership that recycles bridge material as artificial reef habitat.
The Gulf State pier is the
longest pier on the Gulf of Mexico at 1,540 ft. There is indoor seating, comfort stations at the midpoint of the pier and wheel chair accessible rail fishing. It has 2,448 feet of fishing space available along the rails.
Alabama's aquatic biodiversity is second to none with more species of freshwater fish, freshwater mussels, freshwater turtles, freshwater snails and crayfish than any other state.
About
20 species of whales and dolphin and one species of Manatee (West Indian Manatee) live in the Gulf of Mexico. Bottlenose dolphins use our bays and bayous for nursing, feeding and breeding grounds. All resident dolphin, whales and manatees along Alabama’s Gulf coast are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Loggerhead and Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles nest along our coastal beaches,
hatching success has increased by 85% as a result of increased monitoring efforts by the volunteer program Share the Beach.
The Gulf Coast of Alabama has some of the
purest, whitest sand anywhere on the Gulf of Mexico. Our sugar-white beaches are made up of quartz crystals produced by the weathering of continental land masses like the Appalachian Mountains. The quartz is washed down America's great rivers into the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico where it is carried onto the beaches by water currents and waves.
More than
400 species of shells can be found in the Gulf of Mexico.
There are
400 species of birds in the State of Alabama, Dauphin Island is nationally renowned for bird watching.
Our Gulf Coast communities of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach provide
21 miles of trails:
- Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail = 10 miles
- Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge = 6 miles
- Gulf State Park = 5 miles
And more than
13,000 acres of wild lands:
- Orange Beach Maritime Forest = 548 acres
- Wade Ward Nature Park = 12 acres
- Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge = 7,105 acres
- Gulf State Park = 6,150
For more information about all of Alabama’s creatures,
click here.
Explore Our Great Outdoors
Visitors to the Alabama Gulf Coast will find a bounty of outdoor-related activities, such as the following items:
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