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Stories From the Gulf

GulfCorps

Creating jobs and restoring the environment in the Gulf.

A gorup of people work along sandy beach.
GulfCorps he GulfCorps program partners with conservation corps crews in all five Gulf Coast states to conduct a range of projects on local, county, state, and federal lands and waters. © Mike Dumas

GulfCorps, a program of The Nature Conservancy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), creates hundreds of conservation jobs for young adults along the Gulf Coast. The program provides experience, hands-on training and professional workforce development opportunities to crew members in all five U.S. Gulf states — Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

Conservation corps crews work on a range of projects at local, county, state, and federal lands and waters. The program, which launched in 2017 under the leadership of NOAA, TNC, the Student Conservation Association (SCA) and The Corps Network (TCN), focuses on projects that restore habitats damaged by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill while also restoring the economy of the Gulf states.

Conserving the Gulf, Creating Jobs (4:57) The Nature Conservancy’s GulfCorps Program creates jobs for hundreds of people along the Gulf Coast who work to restore and protect their communities.

In 2025, the eighth year of the program, GulfCorps celebrated the restoration of more than 32,000 acres across the five Gulf states.

  • Green Icon of Trees

    32,294

    acres of habitat impacted

  • Icon of a Shovel

    511,281

    hours worked

  • Green Icon of People

    600+

    people enrolled

GulfCorps Partners

  • American Youthworks – LaCC and TXCC
  • Climb Community Development Corporation
  • Franklin’s Promise Coalition – FloridaCorps
  • Student Conservation Association
  • The Corps Network
  • The Ember Alliance
  • NOAA Fisheries

Partnership In Action

Together, the GulfCorps partners collaborate with local organizations and leaders to advance land and water conservation in all five Gulf states. Those collaborations include: 

  • Providing support for local conservation corps who recruit crew members from their communities. GulfCorps aims to recruit 75 percent of each crew from Gulf Coast communities.
  • Providing crew members with the highest quality training, including project-related training, industry-recognized certifications and workforce development opportunities. This combination of training, work experience and professional development fuels placements in environmental jobs, internships, externships and post-secondary educational opportunities.
  • Working with community stakeholders to select conservation and restoration projects that improve resilience to impacts from evolving environmental changes and disasters.
  • Monitoring progress over the course of the entire program to ensure the corps’ restoration work is producing the desired ecological results.
GulfCorps The GulfCorps Program works throughout the five Gulf states. © The Nature Conservancy

Restoration Work Map

View GulfCorps’ full restoration work areas.

GulfCorps Projects

History of the GulfCorps Program

GulfCorps launched in 2017 when NOAA awarded a $7 million grant, funded by the RESTORE Act, to TNC for the creation of a program focused on restoring habitats damaged by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill while also restoring the economy of the Gulf states.

The first GulfCorps grant ended in October 2022, investing an estimated $8.245 million in the Gulf over four years. The second GulfCorps grant ends in November 2025 with an estimated investment of $11.321 million. 

NOAA awarded GulfCorps a third $12 million grant starting in October 2024 through its Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience grant program to continue its work as a conservation and workforce development program. The investment in Gulf Coast restoration, conservation and workforce development totals more than $31 million over 12 years.

GulfCorps Karrie Arnold, TNC GulfCorps staff member and members of Louisiana Conservation Corps measure progress in a longleaf pine forest. © The Nature Conservancy

Video Clips

See how GulfCorps impacts our members.

Restoring Communities and the Coast

See what GulfCorps is doing for coastal environments along the Gulf, and for the young people who have joined the efforts.

(4:56)

GulfCorps Fact Sheets

Visit our GulfCorps 2.0 Stats Dashboard

View

Conserving the Gulf Coast

Fluffy clouds frame wetlands interspersed with green vegetation and slow moving waters.

The Gulf

We're working to preserve habitat, lead restoration projects and advocate policies to achieve large-scale conservation in the Gulf region.

Parque Nacional Torres del Paine in Chile, showing sparkling waters of a bay and steep, snow-covered mountains in the distance.

Protect Ocean, Land & Fresh Water

We’re facing two existential crises: climate change and rapid biodiversity loss. Reversing these crises requires protecting and sustainably managing our ocean, land and fresh water.

Tall marsh grasses grow along a calm waterway.

Nature-Based Solutions in the Gulf

The Nature Conservancy takes the lead on implementing nature-based solutions along the Gulf Coast.

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