Members of the Gulf of Mexico Climate and Resilience Community of Practice have honored the city of Foley, Alabama, with the 2022 Spirit of Community Award for its exemplary work in the field of climate adaptation planning and environmental resilience.
Through a competitive process, group members voted for Foley to receive its Spirit of Community Award in the community category. Coastal communities that have received the Spirit of Community Award exemplify a desire to take action on resilience vulnerabilities and promote the value of environmental mitigation to local residents and community stakeholders. The winner was announced at the 2023 annual meeting held in Sarasota, Florida.
With just over 20,000 people, Foley is one of the principal cities in Baldwin County, which is one of the fastest growing counties in the state of Alabama. Rapid development over the last 20 years has made the city more vulnerable to flooding from storms and rain events. In response to these environmental pressures, Foley has taken an innovative approach to reducing flooding vulnerability by incorporating land preservation, watershed restoration and other methods to increase the function of natural systems.
The city came up with a multi-pronged approach to policy and planning by working on a city Flood Response Plan that was coupled with a new land-use development plan, which ushers in stronger environmental standards for the city.
These changes in planning and policy have also been augmented by strong environmental conservation actions at the local level. Chief among these actions is the development of the Graham Creek Nature Preserve, a city owned and operated 500-acre park that protects critical coastal habitat. These conservation actions have also gone hand in hand with concerted efforts in environmental restoration as embodied by the creation of a 70-acre wetland system along the Bon Secour River, which will help reduce stormwater flows and decrease erosion.
These innovative approaches to environmental planning and conservation embody what the Climate and Resilience Community of Practice is all about. Foley’s environmental planning and conservation serves as a valuable model to a region striving to maintain a balance between economic growth and the conservation of critical coastal ecosystems. The multitude of different actions taken by Foley leaders and city staff exemplify a bold approach to coastal resilience that can serve as a model to other cities and towns in the Gulf of Mexico region.
More information is available online about the Climate and Resilience Community of Practice.