Gulf Coast Beaches: Let’s Get Wild!

What do you think of when you picture the Gulf Coast? Swampy wetlands filled with wildlife like alligators, thriving tidal marshes home to sea turtles and some of the best recreational fishing in the country, or white sand beaches where you can enjoy plentiful sunshine and salty air?

Unfortunately, many of these "wild beaches" are threatened, whether it be by intensifying storms, rising sea levels, or manmade issues. However, these places are essential to their states and communities, providing protection from flooding and storm surge, supporting livelihoods and strengthening economies, as evidenced by the important work being done to restore and protect them.

Let's get wild and check out some of our favorite "wild beaches" from each of the Gulf Coast states!

Caladesi Island State Park, FL

At the junction of the most densely populated county in Florida and the Gulf of Mexico lies Caladesi Island State Park, a barrier island. No two visits to the island find it in the exact same place, as the land shifts, grows, shrinks and transitions with tides, winds, currents and storms.

Caladesi Island is not only an amazing coastal park but an essential fisheries habitat, a critical environment for nesting shorebirds (including threatened species like Least Terns, Black Skimmers, and Snowy and Wilson's Plovers), and home to Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins, Florida Manatees and sea turtles. White sand beaches and surf define the Gulf side of the dunes and vast mangrove forests comprised of black and red mangroves define the bay side along St. Joseph's Sound. The area within the park teems with life.

Credit: Joe Murphy

While Caladesi Island is one of Florida's most beautiful beaches and most popular state parks, you cannot drive there. After taking the Dunedin Causeway to neighboring Honeymoon Island State Park, visitors can take a ferry over to Caladesi Island. Once on the island, there is a marina, a snack shop, and a nature trail, but the real attraction is the vast stretch of white sand and water. Caladesi Island is one of the crown jewels of the Florida State Park system and a sublime coastal destination in Florida.

Dauphin Island, Alabama

Just west of the mouth of Mobile Bay sits Dauphin Island, Alabama's only barrier island. Connected by a causeway bridge to the mainland and with just 1,800 residents, it is an important part of Alabama's coastal resiliency and protection from storms, as well as a birding hotspot. There are public beaches on each end of the 15-mile-long island and a tremendous diversity of wildlife, from dolphins, turtles and gamefish to raptors and shorebirds. However, the real jewel of the island is the beach and nearshore habitats located in the Audubon Bird Sanctuary near the center of the island.

Although Dauphin Island is located only a few miles south of the mainland, it extends into the Gulf and serves as an important stop for hundreds of species of birds, many of which make it their last stop before a flight across the Gulf to the Yucatan Peninsula in the fall and their first stop on their return north in the spring. There are over 400 species of birds that frequent the island, which is designated as a "Globally Significant Important Bird Area" by the National Audubon Society.

A visit to the beach and trails at the bird sanctuary is a great way to experience a variety of habitats and wildlife in one stop. The 164-acre site contains a mixture of beach, maritime forest, marsh and dune ecosystems. Millions of dollars from the Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund have been allocated to the restoration and conservation of Dauphin Island's beach and marsh habitats so that they will continue to provide their important ecological function and be available for generations.

Credit: Paul Dovie

Ship Island, Mississippi

To find truly wild beaches in Mississippi, one only needs to look south. Mississippi's coast is dotted with barrier islands, the most well-known being Ship Island, home to the Civil War-era Fort Massachusetts. The island can easily be accessed by private boat or aboard a 12-mile ferry ride to the island.

Credit: Johnny Marquez

Hurricane Camille split the island in two in 1969. The resulting gap, Camille Cut, widened to three and a half miles due to successive hurricane damage. Mississippi's islands are gradually moving from east to west as a result of littoral drift, however, Ship Island was being starved of sediment and was unable to heal from storms as sand from the east migrated into a ship channel, was dredged and then disposed of outside of the sediment transport system.

Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a large restoration project funded through the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program delivered 18 million cubic yards of sand to the island to reunite the two halves and allow the island to naturally heal itself after future storms. The project also restored miles of essential habitat for a host of shorebirds, sea turtles and gamefish and protects the seagrass beds on the north side of the island, where trophy speckled trout and bruising bull redfish roam.

Surfside beaches to the south host pompano, black drum, and Spanish mackerel, all favorites of recreational fishermen. The reconnected east island provides an unspoiled getaway for fishermen and birders. Hopefully, the restoration of the island will ensure its resilience and presence for many years to come.

Elmer's Island, LA

Elmer's Island, located near the toe of Louisiana's boot, truly has it all! The island on Louisiana's coast has long been a destination for outdoor enthusiasts, including beachgoers, birders, anglers, and even kiteboarders. Elmer's Island is part of the Caminada Headland, a remnant of the land-building the Mississippi River once did across Louisiana's coast before levees were built along the river for flood protection and navigation. The beach here includes dune, beach, salt marsh, and mangrove habitat.

Like many Gulf Coast areas, the island sees a combination of thriving wildlife and sportsman recreation. Bird species, like mottled duck, Wilson's plover and seaside sparrow use Elmer's for nesting, and the threatened piping plover uses it as a foraging habitat for several months out of the year. Bank and surf fishing are popular on the island with anglers catching blue crab, speckled trout, red drum, and southern flounder. This stretch of beach is also thankfully protected as a Wildlife Management Area, owned and managed by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife Fisheries.

Rising seas, hurricanes, and even the infamous Deepwater Horizon oil spill have caused the loss of dune and marsh habitat, retreat of the shoreline, and effectively, negatively impacted wildlife. However, considerable effort has been put into restoring these habitats along the Caminada Headland.

Credit: Alisha RenfroCredit: LA Wildlife Federation

To date, 790 acres of beach and dune and 165 acres of marsh ecosystems have been restored using funding from a variety of sources, including the criminal settlement of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Elmer's Island is the perfect place to view Louisiana's coastal past and glimpse its future - one of restoration and resilience for generations to come!

Galveston Island, TX

Galveston Island on the Texas Gulf Coast exemplifies both the harsh realities of climate change and the power of restoration. Coastal erosion, rising sea levels and more intense storms are reshaping its sandy beaches, threatening their natural beauty and the wildlife that depends on them. Among these are "ghost wolves," rare coyotes with genetic ties to extinct red wolves, as well as migratory birds like pelicans, herons, egrets and endangered Kemp's Ridley sea turtles that nest on its beaches.

To combat these challenges, Galveston has implemented groundbreaking restoration initiatives that safeguard its coastline and rich biodiversity. In spring 2015, the Galveston Park Board unveiled a newly nourished half-mile beach west of the seawall at Dellanera R.V. Park, and by year's end, the Galveston Park Board created another 15 blocks of new beach along the seawall.

Called Babe's Beach, this $23 million project was a collaborative effort by the board, the City of Galveston, Texas General Land Office and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District. Following this, a $19.5 million beach nourishment project in October 2016 expanded seawall beaches with nearly one million cubic yards of sand, marking it the largest beach nourishment effort in Texas history.

Galveston's conservation and restoration projects will offer ecological benefits and recreational opportunities for generations. Renourished beaches remain wide and functioning, attracting tourists, and dunes are extensive and vegetated, acting as natural barriers against storm surge, protecting beaches, inland areas and local wildlife.

Galveston's story is one of transformation and hope, highlighting the urgent need for climate action and the impact of well-planned restoration. In 2022, a Kemp's Ridley Turtle nest was found on Babe's Beach-an area with no historical records of turtle nesting-demonstrating the success of these efforts.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.