Our
Extraordinary
Estuaries
Where the River Meets the Sea
Each day as the tide rises, saltwater is brought into the estuary and mixes with freshwater coming down from rivers and creeks. Together, they make the perfect ecosystem for a diverse range of plants and animals. Healthy waterways make for a healthy regional economy—and it’s going to take all of us to protect and preserve them for generations to come.
Read on to learn more about what estuaries are and why they’re so important to Pensacola and Perdido Bays.
What Is a Watershed?
A watershed is an area of land that acts as a funnel, collecting all the water from a specific area and draining it into the nearest body of water. Rain, irrigation, and anything they absorb or dissolve are guided by gravity and channeled into the soil, groundwater, streams, creeks, lakes, and rivers. Eventually that water makes its way to the bays and, in the Pensacola and Perdido Bays region, out to the Gulf of Mexico.
About the Pensacola
and Perdido Bays Estuaries
The Pensacola and Perdido Bays watersheds are ecologically diverse, which means they have a variety of features and species living in and sustained by them. From longleaf pine forests to sandy-bottomed rivers, wetlands to oyster beds, the creeks, streams, and coastal waters, the habitats that make up our watersheds sustain numerous species of fish and wildlife, and their wetlands and coastal barriers provide protection against storms and coastal change.
What’s Included in the Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary Program?
The Pensacola & Perdido Bay Watersheds cover approximately 8,050 square miles. Roughly speaking, the two systems span from the eastern half of Baldwin County, Alabama, to Okaloosa and part of Walton County in Northwest Florida, north to Butler, Crenshaw, and Conecuh counties in Alabama.
Creeks, streams, rivers, and bayous that flow into Perdido Bay, Big Lagoon, Escambia Bay, Pensacola Bay, Blackwater Bay, and East Bay are all part of the watershed area.
Learn more by checking out the history timeline on page 22 of the CCMP.
Our Unsung Heroes
It’s more than just wildlife and plants that need a healthy habitat to survive—our environment, economy, and society depend on healthy watersheds. How do these estuaries help?
Storm Protection
Some 110 million Americans live near estuaries which serve as critical buffers to the mainland, protecting residential areas from harsh storms including hurricanes. Estuary habitats like oysters, seagrass, and marshes can help break up wave energy.
A Natural Filter
Estuaries naturally remove pollutants like toxic chemicals, excess sediment, and excess nutrients. Organisms like salt marsh plants and oysters act as filters, clearing the water and making it safer for other living things.Climate Change Protection
Habitats like salt marshes and seagrass beds serve as natural infrastructure that can protect coastal communities from flooding and erosion. Marshes and seagrass beds can help capture and store greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, known as coastal blue carbon.
Economic Impact
Our waterways are more than beautiful places to swim, fish, or float. Here along the Gulf Coast, they’re our way of life. Our collective well-being, the health of our people, and our economy rely on the water, animals, and plants in our estuaries.
Beyond economically and recreationally important fishing areas, estuaries include the beaches and rivers that residents and visitors enjoy, in addition to waterfront dining, shopping, and hotel destinations. It is for these reasons that estuary regions are some of the most economically viable in the nation, accounting for 47 percent of economic output and supporting more than 59 million jobs. Here in the Pensacola and Perdido Bays, businesses within ½ mile of the watershed had nearly $8 billion in sales in 2020 and supported more than 84,000 workers. Property Value Boost
Local property values benefit from their proximity to the PPBEP area—an estimated increase of approximately $2.7 billion. This increase in property values leads to an additional $80.7 million in direct consumer spending, plus $14.6 billion in indirect and induced impacts, for a total of $22.6 billion in economic impacts.
If our estuaries are healthy, our economy and our quality of life will be healthy, too. Explore Our
Estuaries!
Become an Estuary Explorer today and not only will you get to learn about and interact with some of our region’s most spectacular natural habitats, you’ll get some cool swag, too!
