Conservation Corner: April 9, 2001

100,000 Acres Of Wetlands Restored In State
by James L. Cummins

Wetlands are valuable to different people for different reasons. Some prize wetlands for the rich wildlife and fish resources found there. Others see wetlands as important areas for sediment retention, improving water quality, ground water recharge and flood control.

According to Peyton Self, President of Wildlife Mississippi, "Three-fourths of the wetlands in the United States are controlled by private landowners. These remaining wetlands provide essential habitat for waterfowl and other wetland-dependent wildlife and if we are to ever increase their population, incentives such as the Wetland Reserve Program will not only enable interested landowners to develop waterfowl habitat, but will help compensate them for removing their land from agricultural production."

The Wetlands Reserve Program, which is administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, is one of the landmark environmental steps in the 1990 and 1996 Farm Bills. It is a voluntary program that offers technical and financial assistance to landowners who have previously converted wetlands to cropland or pastureland. Landowners who qualify are compensated for the value of their land in exchange for restoring these areas back to wildlife habitat.

Since 1992, the year Mississippi began participating in the Wetland Reserve Pilot Program, there have been 249 easements enrolled in Mississippi encompassing 100,000 acres. In addition to restoration, WRP provides financial support to agricultural producers by purchasing wetland easements on their high risk, high cost agricultural lands that are frequently flooded.

The Wetlands Reserve Program was created as a voluntary land-retirement program designed to assist eligible landowners in restoring and protecting wetlands using three options. These options include permanent easements, 30-year easements and restoration cost-share agreements.

Mississippi has the second largest enrollment of land in the Wetland Reserve Program in the nation. Because the program is so popular with landowners, applications are backlogged on more than 47,000 acres. Since 1992, reforestation of WRP bottomlands forests has been completed on approximately 68,000 acres using direct-seeding techniques and planting of bare-root seedlings. Additionally, the restoration of hydrology has been completed on approximately 12,000 acres. Currently, working through partnerships, the Natural Resources Conservation Service is restoring an estimated 10,000 acres wildlife habitat annually.

The Wetland Reserve Program has been strongly supported by Senators Cochran and Lott and Congressmen Thompson and Pickering. All involved with it should be proud of its accomplishments.

James L. Cummins is Executive Director of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Stoneville, Mississippi. Known as "Wildlife Mississippi," the Foundation is a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi.