SPANISH FORT — More than 2,600 acres of wild river basin along the Perdido River will become public property as part of an effort to preserve a total of about 30,000 acres between the river's source and Perdido Bay, state officials said Thursday, May 19.

Gov. Kay Ivey made the announcement at the annual Alabama Restore Summit at the Spanish Fort Community Center. The summit was held to discuss the use of funds from fines and settlements from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

"Alabama has acquired over 12,600 acres of habitat in Coastal Alabama with Deepwater Horizon funds," Ivey said. "This includes over 2,600 acres in the Perdido Watershed that the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources closed on this week."

Chris Blakenship, commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said the state has received $926 million in funds from the spill. He said the final total is expected to be about $1.6 billion when the final payments are complete in 2031.

Blankenship said the money is being put to a variety of uses in Alabama.

"Our restoration goals are to replenish and protect living coastal marine resources, support and enhance community resilience, provide and enhance economic development infrastructure, restore conserve and enhance habitat, provide and enhance recreational public access, restore water quality, provide planning support and conduct science research and monitoring," he said.

Blankenship said land acquisition and conservation are a key part of coastal restoration.

"Land conservation in conjunction with appropriate habitat restoration provides services for wildlife, birds and flora as well as provides downstream economic benefits for water quality and quantity improvements," he said.

The 2,644 acres on the Perdido River will ensure that the property is protected and available to the public forever, Blakenship said.

"This is the area that I think that I am most proud of, of the work that has taken place so far," Blakenship said. "When land is acquired and turned into public ownership and public access, that is land that will be here and available to the public for perpetuity."

He said the Perdido River acquisition is part of efforts to preserve one of the last undeveloped areas in Coastal Alabama and Florida.

"Because of the way it's situated partially between Pensacola and Mobile it's been a little slower to develop along the Perdido River, which gives us the opportunity to do something, do something big there to be able to protect that," Blankenship said.

He said the property is between U.S. 90 and Interstate 10. That property will provide a link between other sites acquired to the north and south.

"Currently, the Department of Conservation has the Perdido Wildlife Management Area close to the headwaters of the Perdido, about 6,500 acres and we have the Lillian Swamp Forever Wild property at the mouth of the Perdido River where it feeds into Perdido Bay," Blankenship said.

He said the acquisition will help create "about a 40-mile wildlife corridor along one of the most beautiful places in the state of Alabama"

Conservation officials used several funding sources to buy property on the Perdido River. Combined projects with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Forever Wild, Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act and Coastal Wetlands acquired land in the river watershed.

"I think this, to me, shows how, cooperating with all the different funding sources, that we can do something combined that has an unbelievably important impact and will be there for all of our lives and our children's lives and that will be a great place for wildlife," Blakenship said. "We can add to our canoe trail, our hiking trail. We can open that up for passive recreation and hunting. It's just a great opportunity."

He said that when the 8,000 to 10,000 acres acquired through different projects are added to the land in the Perdido Wildlife Management Area and the Lillian Swamp, about 30,000 acres of property will be in public ownership and available for outdoor recreation.