Summer/Fall 2001

Conservation News

AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER RECEIVES AWARD - On August 14, 2001, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Southeast Regional Director presented a conservation award to American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) for the company's reforestation efforts. Sam D. Hamilton, Regional Director of the Southeast Region, presented one of the first annual Southeast Regional Director's Conservation Awards to Diane Fitzgerald, AEP vice president environmental affairs, during a meeting of the Lower Mississippi River Ecosystem Team in Memphis. The award is "in recognition of outstanding contributions to conservation" by the company. Hamilton praised AEP for being an exceptional conservation partner. "AEP not only is restoring wildlife habitat but has acquired land for that purpose and is making great strides in its innovative carbon sequestration efforts," Hamilton said. "We applaud AEP for setting a high standard for conservation in the lower Mississippi valley."

Diane Fitzgerald and Sam Hamilton. Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Fitzgerald cited two primary reasons for AEP's involvement in reforestation. "First of all, as public policy, we advocate the planting of trees and preservation of forests for carbon sequestration or storage to help offset releases of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas," she said. "Secondly, the restoration of hardwoods in this location benefits wildlife as it restores the natural habitat and maintains biodiversity." Representatives of many National Wildlife Refuges participated in proceedings of the Lower Mississippi River Ecosystem Team. Other members of the team include representatives of all U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service divisions and partners from state agencies, non-governmental organizations, such as Wildlife Mississippi, and private entities. American Electric Power is a multinational energy company based in Columbus, Ohio. AEP owns and operates more than 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity, making it America's largest generator of electricity. The company is also a leading wholesale energy marketer and trader, ranking second in the U.S. in electricity volume with a growing presence in natural gas. AEP provides retail electricity to more than 7 million customers worldwide and has holdings in the U.S. and select international markets.

TAX BREAKS PROPOSED for Timberland Owners - A bipartisan bill has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to remove current limitations on the income tax credit that may be taken for qualifying reforestation expenses, and on the amount of reforestation expenses that can be amortized or expensed for tax purposes. The bill (HR 3081) would also establish a formula for adjusting capital gains taxes on timber sales to account partially for inflation during the time the timber is held.

The Reforestation Tax Cut Act of 2001 would remove the current $1,000 cap on the reforestation tax credit and the $10,000 limitation on reforestation costs that can be expensed rather than capitalized in a single tax year. It would also cut the time period for amortization of reforestation costs to five years from the current seven. The income tax provision would reduce the capital pins tax due on a timber sale at a rate of 3 percent for each year the timber had been held up to a maximum inflationary adjustment of 50 percent of the gain. The bill, if passed in anything like its present form, would be a major boon to timberland owners, especially in Mississippi.

DEER CREEK TO BE RESTORED - A cooperative watershed working group, which will soon be assembled, will Plan the restoration of Deer Creek. This 159-mile creek flows from Lake Bolivar to Vicksburg. Rehabilitating this stream will bring environmental benefits to residents and landowners and could boost the local economy. Deer Creek has become degraded because of heavy sedimentation, illegal dumping along the stream's bed and banks and raw sewage being routed directly into the waterway. Cleaning up Deer Creek will improve the water quality and quantity, enhance wildlife habitat and spawn recreational opportunities like fishing and boating. Restoration could also bring economic gain in the form of increased flows to Deer Creek, with water from the Mississippi River, that can be used for irrigation purposes. A working group will aid the effort. "We're counting on the working group to get things started but will look for other people and organizations to join us as the momentum grows," said Ray Aycock, field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Mississippi Field Office. "We want local schools involved too. We think environmental education is an important component of the Deer Creek restoration effort so we'll be asking the schools to participate in various ways like monitoring Deer Creek's water quality," Aycock added. While the working group is the initial clean up underway, Wildlife Mississippi has requested that the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers conduct a Section 1135 Study on Deer Creek, which will look at restoration of degraded ecosystems and suggest ways to restore them for long-term benefits. Deer Creek is a historical waterway that once bad enough water to float gunboats during Civil war skirmishes and supply barges at the turn of the century. Today, Deer Creek is often dry in its southernmost reaches and has been reduced to a trickle in others. Deer Creek's poor condition has earned it a place on Mississippi's list of impaired waters.

LARGEMOUTH BASS RESEARCH FUNDED - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has given top priority to four studies that focus on a virus disease that kills largemouth bass. Research money is now finally available for the study of Largemouth Bass Virus (LMBV), the mysterious disease that has killed thousands of bass across the South since it first was diagnosed in 1995. During the next year, $415,390 will be used for four projects, ranging from developing and validating non-lethal sampling techniques to improving detection of the virus in infected fish and investigating how the stress of being caught might relate to contraction of LMBV. Mississippi State University fisheries scientist Dr. Hal Schramm added, "Largemouth Bass Virus disease is moving out of the South and heading west and north. It stands to impact the majority of the nation. Schramm will work with associates from Auburn, Alabama Department of Game and Fish, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, and Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. They will attempt to discover if a link exists between stress related to tournament handling and LMBV.

DeSoto NATIONAL FOREST BUYS Ole Miss LAND - DeSoto National Forest recently bought 5,127 acres of longleaf pine forest from the University of Mississippi. The purchase completed a land transfer that began with the purchase of 15,730 acres. The purchase gives the USDA Forest Service responsibility for one of the largest tracts of longleaf pine remaining in the U.S. Congress appropriated $35 million to purchase the land, which will be managed under an agreement among several groups, including The Nature Conservancy and a group of residents called Friends of the Forest.

SURVEY CONDUCTED AT WINTERVILLE MOUNDS - On Thursday, August 16, Winterville Mounds staff archaeologist John Sullivan assisted University of Mississippi archaeologists Matt Reynolds and Alan Lemon in an electromagnetic survey of 2 mounds at Winterville Mounds. This survey is the first archaeological investigation at Winterville Mounds since 1968 and is part of the ongoing program developed by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to investigate and restore this National Historic Landmark. Electromagnetic resonancing, a non-invasive technique similar to those used for an MRI, allows archaeologists to look beneath the ground surface without digging. The technique detects disturbances or changes in the soil that can indicate the presence of archaeological features such as house sites, fire pits, previous excavations and other information. The electromagnetic survey will aid archaeologists in planning future excavations and confirming information from previous excavations. Such non-invasive techniques are helpful in preserving the integrity of the mounds.

ASPER NAMED MARINE RESOURCES CHAIRMAN - The Commission on Marine Resources selected Dr. Vernon Asper as its new chairman in a unanimous vote at its July 17 meeting. Asper succeeds William Mitchell, who resigned July 1, because of a change in residence. "Dr. Asper is a charter member of the Commission on Marine Resources, having served as both commissioner and vice-chairman," said Glen Carpenter, Department of Marine Resources Executive Director. "I look forward to his leadership and the professional experience he will bring as chairman. He will have the full support of the Department and my personal commitment to provide all our resources to support him as chairman of the Commission."

The Commission is composed of seven members appointed by the Governor for four-year terms to represent the following areas: non-seafood industry, commercial seafood processor, nonprofit environmental organization, charter boat operator, recreational fisherman, commercial fisherman and Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. Asper represents nonprofit environmental organizations and Hancock County and served as vice-chairman before being selected as chairman. Rickey Hemba, who represents recreational anglers and Jackson County, was selected as the new vice-chairman.

FOREST SERVICE Fills State Posts - Two key U.S. Forest Service posts in Mississippi have been filled. Keith Lawrence, a veteran Forest Service employee, was named deputy forest supervisor. He most recently served as district ranger for the Osceola National Forest in Florida. Jon T. Williams has been named to head, fish, wildlife, range, recreation and heritage resource management programs in Mississippi's national forests.

SLOTH On Display AT NATURAL SCIENCE MUSEUM - Ever had just a real burning desire to see a sloth? If you have, you are in good company. Thomas Jefferson wanted to see a real live sloth. In fact, he sent Louis and Clark with orders to find the animal. Of course they were unsuccessful since the large animal was extinct and had been for thousands of years. So, Jefferson had to settle for fossil bones. However, today's visitors to the new Museum of Natural Science at LeFleur's Bluff State Park in Jackson can see the skeletal remains of a large one. This particular skeleton was discovered in Ohio and put together by the Illinois State Museum before coming to Jackson. "Although an entire skeleton has not been discovered in Mississippi," Museum Director Libby Hartfield said. But the sloth is not the only fascinating new exhibit at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science these days, Hartfield said. If you have ever driven in southern Mississippi around Camp Shelby, you know how beautiful the piney woods are. "Finer, straighter, loftier trees the world does not produce," wrote Colonel J.F.H. Claiborne in 1841 in his travelogue, A Trip Through the Piney Woods. "For 20 miles at a stretch in places, you may ride through these ancient woods and see them as they have stood for countless years, untouched by the hand of man and only scratched by the lightning or the flying tempest. Our museum has done its best to preserve the memory of the beautiful piney woods by developing an exhibit of this unique habitat," Hartfield said. The display was funded by a grant from The Chisholm Foundation.