{"id":338,"date":"2026-09-11T11:14:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T18:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/?p=338"},"modified":"2026-09-11T11:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T18:16:07","slug":"the-formation-of-the-western-gulf-coastal-stewardship-task-force-shaping-the-future-of-stewardship-on-the-gulf-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/?p=338","title":{"rendered":"The Formation of the Western Gulf Coastal Stewardship Task Force, Shaping the Future of Stewardship on the Gulf Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How a multistate collaborative team of researchers and managers are working to improve the coexistence of people and coastal birds.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jennifer Fuller<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a welcomingly cool fall evening in Gulf Shores, Alabama, grey, humid skies hung over rolling waves and long stretches of sand disappear into a shroud of mist. A flock of sandpipers flickered above the shoreline, rising and falling to wind gusts lingering from the afternoon storms. The hidden sun touched the horizon, casting an ethereal golden glow over a group of people clustered in the sand. Striking up conversations and introductions, one person casually interrupted\u2014\u201cHey, is that a Wilson\u2019s Plover?\u201d<\/em> \u2014followed by a synchronized lifting of binoculars. This was no ordinary birding outing though. This gathering marked the start of the second annual meeting for the Coastal Stewardship Task Force. Funded by the NOAA Restore Science Program, this group of land managers and research scientists represent four Gulf states, seven universities, ten organizations, and two federal agencies, all assembling with a common goal: to help save coastal bird populations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Viewing a sign and fence placed to protect nesting birds. Photo: Nicole Michel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fifteen years have passed since the BP oil spill, but its impacts reverberate to this day. The devastating loss of hundreds of thousands of birds<\/a> (or more) spurred a collective effort to ensure the Gulf\u2019s bird populations are effectively protected for generations to come. One such effort is the collaborative network of scientists and resource managers known as the Gulf Avian Monitoring Network (GoMAMN)<\/a>, formed to develop a priority species list and synthesize threats, mitigation strategies, and monitoring plans for vulnerable birds in the region. In their Strategic Bird Monitoring Guidelines<\/a>, GoMAMN identified the greatest threats facing coastal birds on the northern Gulf Coast: human disturbance and habitat loss and\/or degradation, followed by extreme weather events. Following in this effort\u2019s footsteps, the Western Gulf Coastal Stewardship Task force was formed from a collaborative group of land managers and research scientists \u2013 many drawn from the GoMAMN community – seeking to answer two research questions that would dramatically shape our understanding and management of coastal bird populations. Using a process known as structured decision-making<\/a>, they carefully set the following goals: 1) to understand how to optimize the effectiveness of coastal bird stewardship across a range of techniques, intensities, and socio-ecological conditions to address human disturbance, and 2) to determine whether community-wide education and outreach campaigns are effective supplements to on-the-ground stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These two objectives are exceptionally relevant to coastal birds along the Gulf Coast. The warm waters and long stretches of shoreline attract millions of visitors each year, making the region a hotspot of human activity and development. Meanwhile, this extensive coastline provides essential breeding, wintering, and stopover habitat for at least 395 bird species, many of which face severe population declines. Inevitably, increasing overlap between bird and human communities on these shores has also posed a myriad of dangers to coastal birds, such as habitat loss, chronic stress, and direct fatalities from trampling, beach driving, and off-leash dogs. Task Force members have dedicated many years of effort to stewarding beaches, roping off nesting areas, posting signs, and encouraging beachgoers to share the shore. These land managers each bring invaluable pieces of knowledge to help solve the collective puzzle: how do we apply stewardship and educational campaigns on a coordinated Gulf-wide scale,<\/em> in a way that is the most effective for bird populations? Answering this question requires an equally coordinated, Gulf-wide research effort\u2014exactly what the task force has begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alabama Point. Photo: Nicole Michel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During the first year, the Coastal Stewardship Task Force met over Zoom once a month, and once in person in Tampa, Florida, to develop a research plan and monitoring protocols. In April 2024 they successfully launched their pilot field season. Field scientists in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama monitored four focal species that breed along the northern Gulf Coast: Least Tern, Black Skimmer, Snowy Plover, and Wilson\u2019s Plover. Their efforts covered 37 sites, collecting data on bird population sizes, nesting success, responses to human disturbances, and avian health. Following the season, the team relayed their successes and obstacles and applied their experiences to improve their plans for the coming year. Two key additions were also integrated into their second year of planning. First was the introduction of the Bayesian Belief Network, a tool that models field research results in an interactive way to produce actionable management recommendations. This will allow future land managers to input variables such as human activity levels and bird species of interest to generate effective, science-driven, stewardship plans. Second, researchers from Virginia Tech began planning out a Community-Based Social Marketing (CBSM)<\/a> program similar to a CBSM campaign previously implemented on the Atlantic Coast. This also uses field data to carefully determine site-based strategies to re-orient people\u2019s perceptions and behaviors around birds and ideally generate a healthier coexistence between birds and people. Planning the Bayesian Belief Network and Community-Based Social Marking tools played a critical role in strategizing and refining research for the next field season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After gathering on that sandy beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama, the excitement and momentum surrounding the second in-person meeting only grew over the next two days. Conversations about the past field season, data modeling, and strategies to address human disturbance seamlessly transitioned into forward-looking discussions on how to refine and expand efforts in the future. While definitive answers to these pressing questions remain on the horizon, one thing is clear: the Western Gulf Coastal Stewardship Task Force is tackling them in a way that is uniquely ambitious and collaborative. By breaking down silos and working across state lines, this team is not only uncovering critical insights but also working to improve how we steward the Gulf\u2019s vulnerable coastal birds. Their work has the potential to shape the future of conservation in the region and beyond – ensuring that birds and people can continue to share these shorelines in a way that supports resilient bird populations for generations to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Western Gulf Stewardship Task Force team in Gulf Shores, Alabama, November 2024. Photo: Nicole Michel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How a multistate collaborative team of researchers and managers are working to improve the coexistence of people and coastal birds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263611288,"featured_media":342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":null,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgqGyj-5s","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":335,"url":"https:\/\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/?p=335","url_meta":{"origin":338,"position":0},"title":"Welcome","author":"westerngulfstewardship","date":"September 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to the Western Gulf Stewardship Task Force\u2019s blog! Check in here regularly for posts about our research, recent publications, fieldwork updates, topical reviews, and more.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Piping Plovers","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Piping_Plovers_23072794576.jpg?fit=960%2C719&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Piping_Plovers_23072794576.jpg?fit=960%2C719&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Piping_Plovers_23072794576.jpg?fit=960%2C719&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Piping_Plovers_23072794576.jpg?fit=960%2C719&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Least_tern_adult_and_juvenile_26530.jpg?fit=2739%2C1842&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/263611288"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=338"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":344,"href":"https:\/\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions\/344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westerngulfstewardship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}