By DAVID RAINER, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

At the first Alabama Conservation Advisory Board meeting of 2025, held last weekend in Montgomery, Board members heard a state of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) report from Conservation Commissioner Chris Blankenship as well as proposed tweaks to the white-tailed deer daily bag limit and changes to the red snapper season.

The proposed changes to red snapper season should be great news for those who love to fish for Alabama’s signature saltwater species. Commissioner Blankenship brought to the Board’s attention the Marine Resources Division (MRD) proposal to change the dates for the private recreational red snapper season that would keep the season open during the peak summer fishing period. According to MRD’s Snapper Check data, private anglers harvested 570,856 pounds of red snapper during the 2024 season, well below the harvest limit of 659,654 pounds. MRD conducted a series of public meetings and provided a way to gain input from the public on fisheries management under the state’s control.

“The recommendation from our Marine Resources Division is to the set the opening of red snapper season on the Friday before Memorial Day and be open seven days a week through June 30,” he said. “Then it would be open for four-day weekends starting July 4 until the quota is met. Since that season would start pretty close to our May meeting, I wanted to get this before the Board as new business so we can set that season and get that information out to the public. The majority of the people who responded to the (MRD) survey wanted that season instead of just a weekend season.”

The Board unanimously approved MRD’s red snapper season recommendation.

Other MRD proposals from Director Scott Bannon included the removal of the exception for anglers to keep one redfish larger than 26 inches in total length to protect the brood stock of the species, a reduction in the bag limit for sheepshead from 10 fish to eight because of increased fishing pressure, and an increase in the daily harvest limit for commercial gill net anglers who target flounder from 40 fish per day to 80 fish per day. MRD also proposed a bag and size limit for common snook, which is expanding its range into Alabama coastal waters. The limit on snook would be one per day per angler with a 28-inch minimum size total length. Another proposal would allow commercial shark anglers to have 2,400 feet of line with a maximum of 50 hooks at least 15/0 in size. The line would be required to be anchored and marked with an identification number, and squid would be outlawed as bait because it can attract sea turtles.

Chuck Sykes, ADCNR’s Director of the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division, proposed only one change to the deer season framework that deals with the unantlered deer daily bag limit in most of the state. WFF proposed that the unantlered deer bag limit be increased to two per day in all zones for the entire season with the exception of Zone C in the north central portion of the state. The antlered deer season limit will remain at three.

Commissioner Blankenship apprised the Board of the $218 million in projects in Alabama State Parks, including upgrades at DeSoto, Lake Guntersville, Gulf State Park, Meaher, Monte Sano, Wind Creek and Lakepoint. Projects that were completed in 2024 include the rebuilding of Gulf State Park Pier, Monte Sano Campground upgrades, new cabins on Lake Shelby at Gulf State Park and a total renovation of the Oak Mountain State Park Campground.

“The three largest projects we have are now under construction,” Commissioner Blankenship said of State Parks. “At Lake Lurleen, we’re totally redoing that park near Tuscaloosa. That’s a $14 million project. We also have the Gulf State Park Campground expansion, which includes a new executive campground being built on the site of the old golf course that was closed several years ago. That is a $24 million project. And we’re building a new hotel at Cheaha State Park that is the highest point in our state. That’s a $28 million project that is being built with mass timber construction to highlight the forest products industry in our state. That mass timber construction will not only be aesthetically pleasing, beautiful and a showpiece for State Parks, but also highlight the wood products from Alabama that are grown here, processed here and used to build the lodge.

“We also have 30 sewer and water projects that are underway in partnership with ADEM (Alabama Department of Environmental Management) at our State Parks,” Commissioner Blankenship said. “It will be about $46 million in work on sewer and water upgrades.”

Commissioner Blankenship also applauded the new reservation system for State Parks that makes reserving accommodations much easier.

“The new reservation system for State Parks came online last year, and it has gone extremely well,” he said. “When I got here (2017), we were doing about 10 percent of our reservations online. Ninety percent of them had to call the park or go to the park and make those reservations in person, which takes a lot of time from our staff and is inconvenient for the public. With this new system, from the report last week, 95% of all reservations are being made online.”

The Alabama Tourism Department recently held a kick-off event for the Year of Alabama Trails campaign, which will actually last two years because of the number of trail systems that crisscross the state. Commissioner Blankenship cut the ribbon to start the campaign.

“2025 and 2026 are the Years of Alabama Trails, a promotion done by Alabama Tourism with cooperation from the Department of Conservation,” he said. “We have more than 400 miles of trails in our State Parks and Forever Wild properties for hiking, biking and horseback riding and other activities. That will be a big interest in our marketing in highlighting the trails we have and trying to get more people to visit our parks and Forever Wild properties and use those trails.

“We’re doing mountain biking upgrades through Innovate Alabama at Oak Mountain State Park and the Coldwater Mountain property near Anniston.”

Commissioner Blankenship said one of the ADCNR’s initiatives is to increase boating access through $30 million in projects that are complete, nearing completion or are underway. Those projects include upgrades at Mount Vernon; McIntosh; McCarty’s Ferry in Choctaw County; Selma; Chocolatta Ramp on the Mobile Causeway, seven ramps on Lake Guntersville, Foster’s Ferry and Riverview in Tuscaloosa, Brown’s Creek at Guntersville, Highway 77 Ramp in Rainbow City, McFarland Park in Lauderdale County, Claiborne Lock and Dam Ramp, Cataco Creek in Morgan County, Weeks Bay Ramp and County Road 6 in Baldwin County, Billy Goat Hole on Dauphin Island, Kowaliga Ramp on Lake Martin; new tournament piers on Lake Jordan, and a new ramp on the east side of Lake Martin in cooperation with Alabama Power Company.

“Those are just the highlights,” Commissioner Blankenship said. “We have more.”

Commissioner Blankenship pointed out the work being done by ADCNR’s State Lands Division at the M. Barnett Lawley Field Trial Area in Hale County to make the area one of the premier field trial areas in the nation.

“We’re investing about $3 million in a new pavilion and events center, adding restrooms in the field trial area and doubling the size of the paddocks and barn to accommodate the horse-dog trial events,” he said. “It’s a first-class dog trial area. Now we’ll have facilities that are commensurate with the field trial area.”

State Lands also funded more than $97 million in GOMESA projects in Mobile and Baldwin counties in the past two years. GOMESA funds are derived from royalties from oil and gas production in the Gulf and through the sale of offshore leases.

“There are also more than $300 million in Deepwater Horizon oil spill projects currently under construction or recently completed on the coast,” Commissioner Blankenship said. “The largest of the projects are the Dauphin Island Causeway Protection Project, about $26 million; the Dauphin Island East End beach renourishment, about $23 million; and the beaches at Orange Beach, Gulf Shores and Gulf State Park with more sand replenishment. The Gulf Shores Ecotourism Center is under construction, about a $12 million project.”

Other projects include moving the sewer outflow in Bayou La Batre, about a $19 million project, which has been in the works for more than a decade. Moving the outflow farther offshore would open additional areas off Bayou La Batre and Coden for oystering and oyster aquaculture. A Working Waterfront project in Fairhope is about a $9 million project, and the Bayfront Park in south Mobile County is an $11 million project done in cooperation with Mobile County and funded through the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) program. Commissioner Blankenship is NRDA’s Lead Trustee for Alabama.

“ADCNR acquired more than 13,000 acres of public land in 2024 through ADCNR projects and Forever Wild,” Commissioner Blankenship said. “We’re glad to have that additional public land available for hunting and public access.

“We’re upgrading shooting ranges in 2025 and 2026 with a new range being built in Columbiana that will be first-class and will rival anything in the state. We will also be upgrading other ranges over the next two years.”

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