Thompson Engineering was selected by the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program to develop a comprehensive watershed management plan (WMP) for the Eastern Shore Watershed. The Eastern Shore Watershed planning area contains seven subwatersheds: Jordan Brook/Yancy Branch (3.8 mi²), Rock Creek / UT1-UT3 (6.5 mi²), Fly Creek / UT-4 (8.5 mi²), UT5 – UT6/City of Fairhope core (2.9 mi²), Point Clear (5.3 mi²), Bailey Creek / UT7-UT11 (4.5 mi²), and UT12 (3.6 mi²). The Eastern Shore Watershed includes a total of 3,138 acres of wetlands, 23 miles of coastline, 48 miles of streams, and 1 mile of ditches/canals. The planning process includes outreach and education, soliciting watershed knowledge, collecting data, obtaining community buy-in and plan implementation. A WMP has the following broad objectives: Coordinate and collect information from stakeholders and community members; Assess the quality of the watershed with its current inputs; Improve and sustain water quality; and Provide guidance to resource managers and policy managers.
During the planning process, critical issues identified specific to this watershed included development, water quality, erosion/sedimentation, litter, human health/wellbeing, and habitat loss. The identification of these issues with help of municipalities and communities paved the way for developing management measures and implementation strategies that included corresponding sample projects, cost estimates, and regulatory strategies.

With explosive growth and severe weather events, the City of Foley is planning and acting towards a more resilient community. Foley began through watershed management planning, and has continued with a flood response plan. Drainage plans are being developed in each watershed to combine with other planning efforts for an overall goal of better preparations for extreme weather events. Foley has also developed new regulatory standards for developments which will be discussed. There are restoration projects of wetlands and waterways under construction and development to mitigate for increased storm water effects. The City is developing a maintenance schedule for storm water facilities and waterways to handle debris and sediment that have caused a lack of hydraulic capacity in the drainageways. Finally, there will be discussion regarding the conservation of environmentally sensitive lands while educating the public about the efforts. 

The Pensacola & Perdido Bays Estuary Program (PPBEP) has worked with collaborators from the University of West Florida, the City of Pensacola, Escambia County, and the Program for Local Adaptation to Climate Effects: Sea Level Rise (PLACE: SLR) to develop and administer "resilience readiness" surveys in the City of Pensacola. "Resilience readiness" is defined in this project as a community's understanding of local risk to climate change impacts. Specifically, this project targets residents of the City of Pensacola in an attempt to assess the City's resilience readiness following the economic and social impacts felt throughout the community after the landfall of Hurricane Sally and other recent severe weather events. This project is ongoing and seeks to supplement the City of Pensacola's current resilience planning efforts. This presentation will share the results of the community resilience survey and preliminary actions identified for the priority planning areas. This project takes a novel approach to addressing local vulnerability by assessing local risk perceptions around sea level rise to inform pilot, community-based resiliency action. This project seeks to address local climate vulnerabilities by aspiring to the following goals: Enhancing resilience planning efforts in the City of Pensacola by creating new vulnerability data that will be measured by assessing local perceptions of climate risks and resilience; Engaging students in meaningful research experience that will emphasize learning and development in resiliency and environmental science; and Building community resilience through partnership building and community participation in pilot project development and maintenance.