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The Wetlands Reserve Program
by Brian Ballinger

Cold and hungry, but happy, a trio of hunting buddies pluck the last of the decoys from the water's surface and slog toward shore. There, tail wagging in encouragement, waits the fourth member of the group, still full of energy after numerous icy swims that morning.

In the pre-dawn chill of that same morning, a father and young son had climbed into a tripod stand overlooking acres of young hardwood trees and a small plot of winter wheat. Light and anticipation had grown in equal measure when, as the first faint rays from the sun struggled over the horizon, a father became a child again in the magical experience of his boy's first deer.

Still elsewhere, a pack of beagles had done their job well, as evidenced by the smiling faces of their two owners as they arranged several rabbits on the truck tailgate for photos at hunt’s end.

That afternoon, a little sleepy from a hearty camp lunch and their early morning activities, all seven of the hunters above gathered for a fine dove shoot.

Each year, thousands of Mississippians are able to add such experiences and many others to their treasure chest of memories because of the bountiful outdoor opportunities available in our state. A strong bond with our natural resources, common from Oxford to Ocean Springs and Mayersville to Macon, ensures that a need will always exist to have places to make such memories. Yes, we are blessed with many thousands of acres of public areas for hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities. But a far greater amount of Mississippi's existing and potential wildlife habitat is privately owned, and thus subject to the land use decisions that must be made by the landowners.

Private citizens own approximately 75 percent of the Magnolia State's land. They do not, however, own the native wildlife found on their properties. Ownership of the state's wildlife rests with the people of the state. However, with the majority of the state’s land under private ownership, it is easy to see that decisions made concerning the use and stewardship of private lands can have a tremendous impact on the overall status of wildlife habitat and populations in Mississippi. Although you may not own or hunt on private land, its use and management directly affects your quality of life and the activities you enjoy. There's more about this subject in this issue’s Membership Dollars At Work.

Land is a limited commodity; there is only so much to go around, and it must be divided among competing needs and interests. Land is needed for businesses, factories, roads, schools, homes, livestock, crops and a myriad of other things. "Urban sprawl" is but one example of an ever-growing burden on available land resources. OK, maybe not in Mayersville, but certainly in Oxford.

Fifty years ago, about 25 percent of Mississippians lived in cities and towns. That number has swelled to about 80 percent today. As this urban population and its space requirements continue to grow, natural places and resources are increasingly displaced. Suffice it to say that the number of entities requiring "space" is ever increasing, a trend not likely to change in the foreseeable future. Somewhere in this mix, the future of our wildlife and the habitat it requires must be taken into account and provided for. And that future, for better or worse, most likely rests in the hands of the private landowner.

Granted, there are landowners who need no external or additional encouragement when it comes to devoting significant portions of their property to the benefit of wildlife. They do so out of financial ability and that "strong bond" mentioned earlier, and should be commended for their efforts. For many others, however, "The heart is willing, but the checkbook ain't" is probably a more familiar situation. At the end of the day, the average landowner's decisions concerning his or her property are most likely driven by what drives the majority of any other types of business decisions – the bottom line. So, aside from "I'd like to," what actual motivation do these folks have to allot any of their land resources specifically to wildlife?

Thankfully, through the hard work and foresight of such conservation-minded public servants as U.S. Senators Thad Cochran and Trent Lott and Congressmen Bennie Thompson and Chip Pickering, many federally-funded conservation programs exist today that offer substantial incentives to private landowners in conserving their land and providing for the needs of wildlife.

Thanks to the above-mentioned gentlemen, one of the most successful of these conservation initiatives is the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), which is administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). This voluntary program offers technical (restoration and wetland management) and financial (easement payments and restoration cost-share) assistance to eligible landowners in addressing wetland, wildlife habitat, soil, water and associated natural resource concerns on their properties. The WRP has become a popular, cost-effective, environmentally beneficial, incentive-based, wetlands restoration program.

Established by the 1990 Farm Bill, and extended through the 1996 and 2002 versions, the WRP is presently authorized by Congress to enroll a maximum of 2,275,000 acres, which is 250,000 acres per year. As of fiscal year 2004, the program had a nationwide enrollment of nearly 8,400 projects on over 1.6 million acres. By 2006, enrollment exceeded 10,000 projects and 1.9 million acres.

Lands enrolled in the WRP include mostly marginal, high-risk, frequently flooded, restorable agricultural wetlands. The program provides an opportunity for landowners to receive financial incentives toward the restoration, enhancement and protection of wetlands in exchange for retiring these marginal lands from agricultural production.

Removing such lands from agricultural production and restoring them to natural wetland conditions is a "win-win-win" situation with regard to the landowner, wildlife and the public. Landowners benefit by the reduction in problems related to farming such areas, by the compensation they receive for removing their land from production and by the opportunity to develop further income from the wildlife-related recreational opportunities available on their land.

The benefits to wildlife are numerous. Waterfowl and other wetland-dependent wildlife are provided habitat essential for feeding, shelter and reproduction. In short, such areas afford wildlife populations the things they need not only to survive, but to thrive.

Public benefits include: the improvement of water quality; reduction of flooding; recharging of groundwater; reduction of soil erosion; protection of biological diversity; educational, scientific and recreational opportunities; and a reduced financial demand for disaster assistance, crop insurance payouts from lands that experience regular losses and other crop assistance payments.

Persons who have eligible land and a desire to restore and protect wetlands have three WRP enrollment options to consider.

The first of these options is a permanent easement. This option establishes a conservation easement on the land in perpetuity. In return for this easement, the landowner receives payment equal to the lowest of three amounts: the agricultural value of the land, an established payment cap or an amount offered by the landowner. In addition to the easement payment, the NRCS covers 100 percent of the costs associated with restoration of the wetland for land enrolled in the WRP in the perpetual easement option.

The second option is a 30-year easement. Easement payments under this option are 75 percent of what would be paid for a permanent easement on the same site and 75 percent of the restoration cost.

Finally, landowners may opt for a restoration cost-share agreement. This enrollment option does not place an easement on the land. The agreement, which has a length of a minimum of 10 years in duration, establishes the restoration and protection of degraded or lost wetland habitat, and up to 75 percent of project costs are paid by the NRCS. Other agencies, conservation districts and private conservation organizations may also provide additional funding to help reduce the landowner's share of the costs.

To offer a conservation easement, the applicant must have owned the land for at least 12 months prior to enrolling it in the program unless: the land was inherited, the landowner's right of redemption was exercised after foreclosure or the landowner can prove that the land was not obtained for the purpose of enrolling it in the WRP. To take part in a restoration cost-share agreement, the applicant must verify ownership of the land. Eligibility for the WRP dictates that offered land must be restorable and suitable for wildlife benefits.

Once accepted into the program, lands are restored to bottomland hardwoods and shallow water areas for wildlife. In all instances, landowners participating in the WRP continue to control access to the land and maintain the use of non-developed recreational activities such as hunting and fishing. They may also lease the land for these uses if they so choose. At any time during the contract period, landowners can request NRCS approval of other uses of the land, so long as those uses are compatible with the wetland and wildlife conservation objectives of the program.

The NRCS works with other national, regional and state level conservation entities, including Wildlife Mississippi and the Mississippi River Trust, to assist with program delivery. The NRCS and its partners continue to provide guidance and assistance to landowners once restoration activities are completed. This assistance can range from the technical and administrative aspects of the easement to providing biological and engineering guidance on how to attain the best possible results for wetland-dependent wildlife.

So what relevance do the stories at the beginning of this article have to the WRP? Hopefully now you can see that they have plenty, including the "canvas" on which the stories could be painted. It is not at all far-fetched to imagine that each of those hunts occurred not far from one another on the same tract of land, and that the land had been farmed or in danger of commercial or residential development just a few short years earlier. Now restored through the WRP, enhanced by the Wetland Reserve Enhancement Program (WREP) and protected by a conservation easement, that land and its wildlife can be enjoyed for generations to come.

The native wildlife of Mississippi belongs to the people of our state. As such, we should think of private landowners as caretakers of a resource that is very precious to us. In borrowing from the wisdom of the great conservationist, Aldo Leopold, "Conservation will ultimately boil down to rewarding the private landowner who conserves the public trust." The WRP and WREP provide valuable tools and incentives in aiding the private landowner to do just that.