Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve

It receives freshwater from the Magnolia and Fish Rivers, and drains a 198 square miles (510 km2) watershed into the portion of Mobile Bay via a narrow opening.

[1][2] This sub-estuary of Mobile Bay averages just 4.8 ft (1.5 meters) deep [1] and is fringed with marsh (Spartina, Juncus) and swamp (pine, oak, magnolia, maple, cypress, bayberry, tupelo and others).

The reserve lands also include upland and bottomland hardwood forests, freshwater marsh (Typha, Cladium), submerged aquatic vegetation (Ruppia, Vallisneria) and unique bog habitats (Sarracenia, Drosera).

The Weeks Bay Reserve includes over 6,000 acres (2,400 ha) of coastal wetlands and water bottoms that provide rich and diverse habitats for a variety of fish, crustaceans and shellfish, as well as many unique and rare plants.

The Weeks Bay estuary, "where rivers meet the sea," is an important site of scientific research on estuarine ecology.