About Smart Coast

Smart Coast is an independent magazine about living well on the Alabama Gulf Coast, from the Mobile-Tensaw Delta and the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay to Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Dauphin Island. It publishes practical guides and plain explainers in four sections: Walk & Bike, Coast & Nature, Towns & Living and Storm & Safety.

Stories are checked against primary and official sources: city and county governments, Alabama State Parks and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center, FEMA, the Alabama Department of Insurance, the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program and research institutions such as the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Sources are listed under each story. Fees, schedules and rules change, so articles send readers to the official source.

For about a decade this domain was the website of Smart Coast, a Fairhope nonprofit that promoted walkable, healthy coastal communities. Its pages are kept in the archive. The magazine is independent and is not affiliated with that nonprofit.

Photographs are freely licensed and credited under each picture; the full list is on the photo credits page. Partner material is labelled and kept apart from the editorial sections.