Conservation Corner: June 17, 2002

Sign-Up Now For The Wetlands Reserve Program
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, ground water recharge and flood control.

The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) is one of the landmark environmental steps in the 2002 Farm Bill. It is a voluntary program that offers financial incentives 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. Land will be restored to bottomland hardwoods and shallow water areas for wildlife. The average easement payment is approximately $650 per acre and the average cost of restoration is $250 per acre.

According to Leila Wynn, 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 WRP will not only enable landowners to develop waterfowl habitat, but the Natural Resources Conservation Service will help compensate them for removing their land from agricultural production."

The public benefits from both the reduced financial demand for disaster assistance and crop insurance funds on lands that experience repeated losses. They also benefit from significant long-term conservation benefits obtained from the protection of wildlife habitat. At the same time these restored lands create improved water quality, the increase of flood storage and the reduction of soil erosion.

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

Thanks to the combined efforts of Senators Trent Lott and Thad Cochran, Mississippi has the second largest enrollment of land in WRP in the nation. Because the program is so popular with landowners, applications are backlogged on more than 47,000 acres. The recently passed Farm Bill will enable landowners to enroll 250,000 acres per year in WRP.

Landowners should contact their local office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service in their local U.S. Department of Agriculture Service Center for further information.

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.