The Alabama Conservation Advisory Board (CAB) recently had a busy weekend, starting the day on May 18th with the second CAB meeting of 2024, where hunting and fishing regulations for 2024-2025 were approved, followed by a dedication ceremony for the newly renovated Oak Mountain State Park campground.

Chris Blankenship, director of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR), provided the committee with an update on matters affecting the agency at the CAB meeting.

As for the individual recreational red snapper season that began last Friday, he said private anglers received good news from NOAA Fisheries, which adjusted the calibration ratios and increased the 2024 allowable catch by just over 72,000 pounds. Also, the charter boat season is now set to run from June 1 to Aug. 27.

“Thanks to our staff's efforts to encourage NOAA to use more recent Snapper Check data, we were able to increase recreational quotas by 12 percent this year,” Commissioner Blankenship said.

In other hunting news, Commissioner Blankenship announced a significant expansion of the American alligator hunting season in Alabama by the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF).

“With alligator populations increasing across the state, staff are now exploring opportunities for hunters to expand their hunting areas and increase the number of tags,” he said. “The areas are larger and we've added some bonus tags this year to encourage hunters to catch more smaller alligators so they don't end up waiting to catch one big one and then never filling up their tags. Overall, the number of tags will increase by about 192 percent, which is quite a lot.”

Due to the calendar this year, deer hunting season will begin on Nov. 23, 2024, a few days later than the 2023 start date.

“Deer hunting season always starts the Saturday before Thanksgiving,” said Chairman Blankenship, “It's a tradition that's been going on in Alabama ever since I was born. In fact, I got married on that day and several people let me know they were going to send gifts but wouldn't be coming to the wedding because they were going to hunting camp.”

“Thanksgiving this year will be a late November 28th and the season will end on February 10th in most of the state. Officials are not cutting back on days, it's just a matter of the calendar. But we still have the longest deer hunting season of any state in the country and the most generous hunting limits. There will be ample deer hunting opportunities. We continue to have the best deer hunting season anywhere in the country.”

The Commission has adopted several changes at Swan Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA), including that the entire drainage unit will operate under a closed quota system, with selected hunters for each hunt being assigned areas that can only be accessed by foot or boat. Selections for weekend hunts are made through a computerized closed quota selection system prior to the opening of waterfowl season. Selections for weekday hunts are made in person at the WFF District 1 office on the day of each hunt.

Additionally, to reduce disturbance to wintering waterfowl that use Mud Creek WMA, the commission approved a proposal to prohibit the use of air-cooled engines west of Highway 72 on Mud Creek WMA from the first youth/veteran waterfowl hunting day of the year in mid-November through the last youth/veteran waterfowl hunting day in February. Hunters can access the 2,200-acre backwater by outboard motor, trolling motor, paddling or driving vehicles from three roads that provide foot access to the backwaters of Mud Creek.

Commissioner Blankenship highlighted the $6 million allocation the ADCNR received last year from the state's general fund to cover work at the shooting range and the M. Burnett Lowry Forever Wilderness Field Test Area in Hale County.

“This is the first time in living memory that we have received funding from the General Fund,” said Commissioner Blankenship. “This year, we received an additional $6 million to use for maintenance of our State Lake dams and other infrastructure improvements. This means that this is the second year in a row that we have been successful in working with the Legislature to obtain additional funding for special infrastructure projects. We thank you for your continued support.”

“We also have a number of boating projects in the works. We received $8 million from Innovate Alabama, and we'll be combining that with departmental funding and federal funding to get some innovative projects underway.”

Those projects include work at Mount Vernon, McIntosh, McCarter's Ferry in Choctaw County, the large boat ramp in Selma, the Chocolatta ramp on Battleship Parkway, seven small ramps on Guntersville Lake, Foster's Ferry and Riverview in Tuscaloosa, Browns Creek in Guntersville, the Highway 77 ramp in Rainbow City, McFarland Park in Lauderdale County, Claiborne Lock and Dam ramp, Catako Creek in Morgan County, Weeks Bay ramp and County Road 6 in Baldwin County, and Billy Goat Hole on Dauphin Island, where permits are pending from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

After the meeting, Commissioner Blankenship took the committee to Oak Mountain State Park for a dedication ceremony of the new $13 million campground. The campground was completely gutted and rebuilt with new water and sewer mains, upgraded electrical hookups and a new and expanded play area. Many of the camp pads have been expanded and modernized to accommodate today's larger, technologically advanced RVs. Other updates include a dog park, improved Wi-Fi access and trail construction to and from the campground.

All of the campground's electrical hookups have been upgraded to 50/30 amp to accommodate modern RVs, and several new, larger bathhouses have been built with laundry facilities, air conditioning and heating. New restrooms have also been added near the new playground and dog park, both of which are located near the camp store and the campground entrance.

In addition to the Oak Mountain renovations, Commissioner Blankenship listed in his CAB meeting report to the commission the golf course improvements and cabin renovations at Lake Guntersville, pool house construction and hotel room upgrades at DeSoto State Park, pier construction and pavilion improvements at Gulf State Park, improvements and expansion at Meaher State Park, upgrades to CCC cabins at Monte Sano State Park, new cabin construction and half the campground renovations at Wind Creek, lodge renovations at Joe Wheeler State Park, pool house and ADA updates at Rickwood Caverns, and continued work on renovations at Lake Pointe State Park. Completed projects include the Lake Shelby cabins at Gulf State Park, the campground at Monte Sano, Joe Wheeler day use area and access to Romar Beach at Gulf State Park.

Extensive renovations at Lake Lurleen State Park, a campground expansion at Gulf State Park and design work on a new hotel at Cheaha State Park are nearing completion.

Commissioner Blankenship also updated the committee on $1 billion in Deepwater Horizon mitigation measures, including $7 million for oyster restoration projects.

Commissioner Blankenship concluded his presentation at the CAB meeting by praising the heroic efforts of one of the WFF Division’s conservation enforcement officers.

A couple was returning to their boat dock after an outing when the husband, who had recently had coronary artery bypass surgery, had trouble with his boat on the pier.

“Carl had one foot in the boat and the other on the dock, intending to tie the boat to the dock, but a strong wind blew the boat away and Carl fell into the water,” Commissioner Blankenship said. “Stacey described the situation as 'helpless' as she was unable to save Carl. Within seconds, someone lying on the dock grabbed Carl by the hood of his jacket, pulled his head above the water and gradually worked his way around the dock to safety, preventing Carl from drowning in the 49-degree water.”

“Not only was this individual trying to pull an adult male, he was fighting against the current that was trying to pull him under the boat dock. In Stacey's words, 'We thought God had sent him to rescue Carl. He told us he believed that too because it seemed like he hadn't intended to come to Copeland Ferry that day but had come through that way anyway.'”

“The man who saved Carl that day was Walker County Conservation Officer Chad Nalls, and today we want to recognize him for his heroic actions above and beyond the call of duty with the Conservation Service Lifesaving Award.”