This fall, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Board of Directors approved over $10 million in funding for Florida’s Shorebird Program, including a $3.2 million grant to Audubon Florida to help fund our coastal stewardship efforts through the spring of 2024. The grant originated in Gulf Restoration funding, helping to restore the Gulf and its wildlife populations after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Audubon’s grant supports eight full-time coastal biologists in addition to 11 nesting-season (seasonal) staff who monitor and protect threatened coastal birds and their habitat at more than 160 sites on the Gulf Coast and in Northeast Florida.

The coastal program performs critical surveys of adults, nests, downy and feathered chicks, and flightcapable offspring. Staff members provide training and management of on-beach stewardship and public education at active nesting sites, conduct regular monitoring and abatement of human and predator disturbance at active nesting sites, and coordinate with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on regulatory issues.

The grant does not meet all our program needs. We need you to protect coastal species! To learn more visit: fl.audubon.org/conservation/coastal-conservation