April 14, 2003

Wetlands Reserve Program Has Record Number Of Applications
by James L. Cummins

The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) provides financial and technical resources to private landowners to restore wetlands. In addition to restoration, WRP provides financial support to landowners by purchasing easements on marginal, high risk, high cost lands.Since 1992, there have been approximately 500 easements enrolled in Mississippi encompassing over 125,000 acres.

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

Mississippi has the second largest enrollment of WRP acres in the nation. Because the program is so popular with landowners, until recently, applications were backlogged on more than 47,000 acres. Due to the assistance of Senators Thad Cochran and Trent Lott and the recent Farm Bill, the backlog has now been filled and acreage is available. However, that is only for the short-term.

Last year, Mississippians applied to the Natural Resources Conservation Service to restore bottomland hardwoods on 13,800 acres. This year, to date, farmers and landowners have applied to restore 68,870 acres into the program. In 2002, the WRP funding allocation for Mississippi was $13.0 million. In 2003 it is $18 million. The 2003 allocation will restore approximately 20,000 acres.

It is clear that farmers and landowners have a strong desire to remove this marginal land from agriculture and return it to its historic use. This is especially the case in the South Delta where over 75% of the farm land is marginal. Marginal farm land is expensive to farm, has a low profit margin and is one of the major causes of low farm income. We all need to understand this issue and assist farmers in removing this type of land from production utilizing voluntary, incentive-based conservation programs.

Most counties still have cropland acreage available for the program except Sharkey County, which has met it cropland limit. Only catfish ponds are available in this county; the Farm Service Agency does not define catfish ponds as being cropland and therefore it is not susceptible to the county cap for WRP.

WRP is helping farmers and landowners do something they don't always get to do. They kept the farm. Many farmers have recently contemplated putting their farm on the market and grieved at the potential impending loss of the family farm due to the economy. This program is providing the capitol to pay off the farm debt. WRP is allowing children and grandchildren to have the opportunity to continue using the land for recreation for generations to come.

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