The Graveline Bay Marsh Restoration Project was designed to restore and supplement historical marsh habitat and support Dauphin Island resilience in the face of long-term erosive forces. This project builds on successful marsh mound projects across the Gulf Coast to explore methods of design that mimic the natural environment and maximize the ecological value of marsh edge habitat. Through the utilization of marsh mounds this restoration design increases the environmental uplift by providing additional marsh edge habitat per area of constructed marsh compared to a contiguous marsh platform. The marsh mound design also reduces the unit cost of marsh restoration per acre. The Graveline Bay project utilizes large marsh mounds to buffer against wave erosion in place of hardened shoreline alternatives. Ten large marsh mounds are located on the bay side of the project and 45 small mounds are located landward of the large mounds. The design expects the large mounds on the windward side to reform to an outer berm feature over time, which will be sacrificial and protect the smaller restored marsh mounds. This berm will mimic natural sand berms found in the existing island marsh habitats. Additionally, based on typical wave directions, the expected crenulate shape of the berm would direct alongshore transport toward the middle of the outer row of marsh mounds, increasing the likelihood that sediment stays within the marsh mound system. With construction in the summer and fall of 2022, the final project design will restore approximately 60 acres of marsh habitat.

This session will discuss a project on the east end of Dauphin Island. The project was funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Sport Fish Grant, the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA) Grant, and matching funds from the Town of Dauphin Island. The USFWS Sport Fish fund components of this project included dredging the boat basin of Little Billy Goat Hole and placement of the dredged material, improving the finger pier decks located at Little Billy Goat Hole, refurbishing the rock jetties at Little Billy Goat Hole, and resurfacing the Little Billy Goat Hole parking lot. The GOMESA fund components of the project included repairing the steel sheet pile bulkhead at Little Billy Goat Hole with a vinyl sheet pile, improving the portion of Bienville Boulevard between Little Billy Goat Hole and the Dauphin Island East End Beach, and improving the Dauphin Island East End Beach parking lot. In this design, we dredged the basin to an elevation of -5ft mean lower low water, used true grid pavers with an asphalt pavement or overlay depending on the section, used vinyl sheet piling to repair the existing (failing) steel sheet pile, restored the rocks on the existing jetty to +2.0 mean sea level with a tolerance of ± 0.5'and used permeable polypropylene decking to replace the existing deck boards that were not constructed with marine grade boards.

The 2015-2016 Dauphin Island East End Beach and Barrier Island Restoration Project, one of ASBPA's Best Restored Beaches of 2017, was the first major beach nourishment constructed in the island's 300+ year history. Over the last seven years, it has weathered multiple significant tropical weather events and successfully halted the ongoing erosion within the project area, which had lost as much as 700 feet in width in recent decades. Now the Town of Dauphin Island is designing a major extension of the project with funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's (NFWF) Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund (GEBF). 
This presentation will summarize the status of the upcoming Dauphin Island East End Beach & Dune Restoration Project, currently in the design phase and planned for construction in Summer 2023. The upcoming beach and dune restoration will renourish and expand the existing project with approximately 1.14 million cubic yards of beach quality sand, widening the beaches of the East End by about 350 feet in order to restore Gulf-front beach and vegetated dune habitat, including nesting and foraging habitat for seabirds, shorebirds, and sea turtles. The beach nourishment will also reduce the risk of saltwater intrusion and breaching into a nearby Audubon Bird Sanctuary freshwater lake, introduce beach sands into the littoral drift of the barrier island, and increase the resilience of the East End to sea level rise and extreme events.

The Aloe Bay shoreline of Dauphin Island, AL has long been subject to storm surge, erosion, and habitat loss and degradation. The engineering and design of two living shorelines within the bay is currently underway to help address these issues. The shorelines are located on the northeast side of the bay off El Dorado Avenue and on the south side of the bay off De Soto Avenue. These respective shorelines have eroded approximately 140 feet and 100 feet over the last 30 years. The proposed designs will include shoreline protection features, placement of fill to create beach and marsh habitat, incorporation of oyster reef habitat, and improved recreational access. Implementation of these projects will help restore marsh and oyster habitat along the north side of the island in a culturally and ecologically significant region. They will not only improve the island's overall estuarine productivity and provide much needed shoreline habitat restoration but will also improve community resilience by protecting critical infrastructure assets and enhancing the vitality of Aloe Bay, the island's town center and economic hub. These projects are proposed for discussion as part of the Dauphin Island Dedicated Session Managing Rising Tides and Shifting Sands to Maintain Balance Between Nature, Culture, and Economy.

With completion of the acquisition of approximately 838 acres of privately owned, undeveloped beach and dune habitat at the far west end of Dauphin Island, the Town of Dauphin Island and Mobile County are developing the Dauphin Island West End Bird Conservation and Management Plan (Plan). Funding for this effort was provided by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement through the Alabama Trustee Implementation Group Restoration Plan III and the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR). In collaboration with the Town of Dauphin Island and Mobile County, and in partnership with the Department of the Interior and ADCNR, a team of biologists, ecologists, and coastal engineers is developing a plan to guide future implementation of management activities with the goal of enhancing habitat quality and availability for the many species of birds that nest and forage there. The plan also addresses habitat management for protected species of sea turtles that use the Island's shoreline for nesting.