MOBILE, Ala.—A public meeting—Tuesday, 6 to 8 p.m. at 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center Theater, Spanish Fort—is set to present the Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan for the watersheds of D’Olive Creek, Tiawassee Creek and Joe’s Branch in Baldwin County.

The meeting will review identified watershed problems and highlight recommended solutions for restoring this watershed. Thompson Engineering, authors of the plan, and Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, will be available to answer questions and record comments.

Since last August, a coalition of federal, state and local agencies, development and real-estate interests, county and municipal staff, and property owners have worked with Thompson Engineering to create this plan to tackle sedimentation, creek bank erosion, flooding and other problems associated with land-use change and development in the Daphne, Spanish Fort and Malbis communities.

Funding for the plan’s development has been provided by a partnership between the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, the cities of Daphne and Spanish Fort, Alabama Power and the Lake Forest Property Owners Association.

 “Poor stormwater management practices in the D’Olive watershed have degraded some of our most productive seagrass beds, critical nursery areas for commercial and recreational fish,” said Roberta Swann, director of the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program. “When implemented, this plan will improve conditions necessary to re-establish critical habitats, strengthening our ecosystem’s ability to recover from the oil spill.”