DAPHNE, Ala. — Issues contributing to the continued deterioration of some of Baldwin County’s most sensitive environmental areas did not occur overnight, so it’s no surprise a 10-year plan is being considered to arrest and address the decline.

Local residents have three weeks remaining to weigh in on a proposed Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan designed to combat the forces eroding the watersheds of D’Olive Creek, Tiawassee Creek and Joe’s Branch, but proponents of the long-range plan contend understanding why the watershed has been so negatively impacted over the past four decades is key to mitigating existing damage while prevention future wear.

Thompson Engineering’s Glen Coffee unveiled the plan two weeks ago during a public forum at 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center, outlining detailed strategies for addressing sedimentation, creek-bank erosion, flooding and other issues associated with land-use changes and development in the Daphne, Spanish Fort and Malbis communities.

Project Manager Coffee—who authored the plan at the request of a coalition of federal, state and local agencies as well as development and real estate interests and property owners—said the 10-year blueprint for remediating the damage will only be successful if a collaborative approach is adopted that emphasizes learning from past mistakes.

Specifically, the areas in question—encompassing 7,700 acres shared by Daphne, Spanish Fort and portions of Baldwin County—have experienced substantial surface runoff and sediment erosion since the late 1960s.

See the rest of this story in the July 14 Daphne Bulletin.

For a closer look at steps proposed by the watershed management plan for addressing the causes outlined above, see the July 21 Daphne Bulletin.