Weeks Bay Watershed
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Upper Fish River Watershed
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Weeks Bay is a small estuary, receiving fresh water from the Magnolia and Fish Rivers that drains a 198-squaremile watershed into Mobile Bay. The Weeks Bay watershed encompasses a rich mosaic of upland and coastal habitats. In 1986, Weeks Bay was designated as the nation’s 16th National Estuarine Sanctuary and the name was changed to the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (one of five Reserves in the Gulf of Mexico region).
Weeks Bay is of great importance to the eastern Mobile Bay System. This highly productive area serves as a nursery for commercially important shellfish and finfish, as well as a diverse array of other flora and fauna. Weeks Bay acts as a filter for nutrients and sediments, provides shoreline stabilization, and offers recreational and educational opportunities for the local population and tourists. The area also serves as important habitat for numerous species of plants and animals, including rare, threatened, and endangered species such as the brown pelican, eastern indigo snake, and the Alabama redbellied turtle. Habitat loss resulting from development, natural erosion processes, sedimentation, dredge-and-fill practices, exotic species, and hydrologic modifications are some of the principle environmental concerns in the region.
The entire length of Fish River, from Weeks Bay to its source, is on the 303(d) list. The initiative will focus on the headwaters of Fish River. The economy in this watershed is heavily dependent on agriculture; however, the watershed has experienced a 37 percent increase in developed land, as reported by the South Alabama Regional Planning Commission. Row crops and livestock production are the major farm enterprises.
Approximately 60 percent of the land in the watershed is used for agriculture or forest management. Agricultural runoff adds sediment, nutrients, pesticides, and bacteria to surface waters.
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Escambia River Watershed
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Canoe Creek
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Pine Barren Creek-Sandy Hollow
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The Escambia River is a large alluvial river that flows south from Alabama through the Florida Panhandle to the Pensacola Bay Estuary and the Gulf of Mexico. The Escambia River Basin is highly productive, and serves as a nursery for commercially important shellfish and finfish, as well as a diverse array of flora and fauna.
The Basin ecosystem provides diverse habitats ranging from mature bottomland hardwood forest to pine uplands, agricultural lands, and estuarine marsh. It provides important habitat for numerous species of plants and animals, including more than 85 native freshwater fish species, candidate mussel species, and rare, threatened, and endangered species such as the brown pelican and piping plover.
The estuary also acts as a filter for pollutants, provides shoreline stabilization, and offers recreational and educational opportunities for the local population and tourists.
In recent years, the Escambia River Watershed has experienced extreme drought conditions. Problems associated with sedimentation have been exacerbated by poor flushing and large sediment loads.
Current and historic land uses have left a legacy of polluted sediments that contribute to water quality concerns because of the threats that they pose to human health, aquatic health, and decreased fish and shellfish production.
The major land uses are cropland, forestland, rangeland, and pastureland. Croplands in the area are dominated by row crop agriculture. The major crops are cotton and peanuts, with corn and soybeans as minor crops.
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