July 14, 2003

Sign-Up For The New Grasslands Program
by James L. Cummins

The sign-up for the Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP) has now begun and will continue until August 8, 2003.

When the Grassland Reserve Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, of the sixteen original co-sponsors, four of them were Congressmen from Mississippi. The GRP would provide the technical expertise as well as the financial means to those landowners and groups who have an interest in restoring the native prairies of the state. Grasslands are important both for the forage they provide for farming operations and for the wildlife habitat they provide.

The program authorizes the U.S. Department of Agriculture to purchase either permanent or 30-year easements from landowners in exchange for a cash payment. The program also authorizes the restoration of native grasslands which is particularly important in the Black Prairie of Northeast Mississippi (1,349,120 acres) and the Jackson Prairie in East Central Mississippi (611,200 acres). These grasslands once supported vast populations of bobwhite quail, wild turkey and a variety of songbird species.

Early explorers to the prairies described them as "expansive illuminated grassy plains" and "rolling prairie with scattered pine and crabapple thickets". Early settlement, overgrazing and intensive cultivation have severely degraded the soils of these prairies. Excessive grazing and the exclusion of fire have allowed the expansion of Eastern Red Cedar and other noxious species. Today, less that one percent of the Blackland Prairie still remains. Most of the prairie is in degraded forest or agriculture. Some prairie remnants can be found in cemeteries, 16th section lands and in National Forests.

The program permits unrestricted grazing on the easement property. Haying is permitted after the nesting season for birds. Prohibitions are intended to prevent cultivation of the soil for row crops, and otherwise to break the soil for agriculture.

The Grassland Reserve Act authorizes qualified conservation and land trust organizations (i.e., Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Mississippi Land Trust, etc.) and state agencies to hold and enforce easements. The Department of Agriculture's obligations under the program are limited to executing easement documents, restoring grasslands when desired and to hold easements if so desired by participating landowners. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is required to conduct periodic inspections of the easement properties. Landowners who violate easement terms may be required to repay the funds they receive under the program, plus interest.

The Act authorizes the enrollment of 1 million acres. This is the largest prairie restoration program in the nation's history.

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