The city of Gulf Shores broke ground on the long awaited RESTORE Act funded Gulf Coast Center for Ecotourism and Sustainability (Gulf Coast Eco Center) Oct. 27. Mayor Robert Craft was joined by special guest Jean-Michele Cousteau, Gulf Shores City School administrators, and Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Center for Ecotourism and Sustainability Travis Langen for the ceremony.

After remarks from Craft, Cousteau and school administrators, the event moved into the woods adjacent to Gulf Shores High School. There, students, teachers and members of the Eco Center team collected reindeer moss, dug up and potted small pine trees and native plants such as false rosemary.

Over the coming weeks city crews will remove larger trees and plants from the building site before work begins. The plants will be cared for and replanted once the project is complete.

The Gulf Coast Eco Center is a nonprofit organization based in Gulf Shores with the mission to promote sustainable tourism, raise environmental awareness and encourage the stewardship of the Gulf Coast’s natural resources.

The Gulf Coast Eco Center has partnered with the City of Gulf Shores, Gulf Shores City Schools and Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ambassadors of the Environment to develop an Eco Center funded through $9.7 million in RESTORE Act funds. The Eco Center will be located adjacent to Gulf Shores City Schools and Gulf State Park and offer a range of camps, classes and recreational activities for school groups, residents and visitors.

The Gulf Coast Eco Center campus has been designed to preserve the uniqueness of the site using local materials. The campus includes a long leaf pine savannah, 20 acres of wetlands and sand pine and oak forests. Seven buildings will be dotted throughout the campus and include:

• Welcome Hub with classroom and staff offices.
• Gathering Hub will offer a large space for hosting events.
• Maker Hub for crafts and project-based learning.
• Farm Hub for hands on work growing food, native plants and composting.
• Wetlands Hub to teach wetlands ecology.
• Mobility Hub will house bikes for riding on trails and a space to work on the bikes.

The project will go out to bid in the upcoming months, but the city will begin work on the road access and groundwork. City officials expect the project to start at the beginning of 2022 with hopes it will be complete sometimes in 2023.