Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve

Weeks Bay Reserve encompasses more than 6,000 acres of tidal and forested wetlands within the greater Mobile Bay estuarine system along the northern Gulf of Mexico. Weeks Bay itself is a small estuary fringed with a variety of wetland habitats, receiving freshwater from the Fish and Magnolia Rivers. It sits along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay between the major metropolitan areas of Mobile, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida. The Reserve's land, 1,645 acres, and water, 4,880 acres, support numerous rare and endangered species including the brown pelican, eastern indigo snake and the Alabama red-bellied turtle. Significant efforts have been made to restore a regionally significant habitat here. Fire dependent pitcher plant bogs contain a myriad of rare species and are easily accessible on the Reserve's self-guiding nature trails.