CONSERVATION CORNER
February 27, 2006
Sign-Up For Hardwood Restoration, Rental Rates Have Increased
by James L. Cummins

Nowhere in America is there a greater variety of native plant communities, native plant species or rare and endemic native plants than in the forests of the Southeast. However, this former vast forest type that was memorialized by Mark Twain and William Faulkner has been under stress. Much of these marginal and submarginal lands were cleared for agricultural production since 1950.

To aid in restoring this forest type in decline and, at the same time ensure the future of the hardwood lumber market a continuous sign-up for bottomland hardwoods is now being offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). This sign-up will also aid in decreasing the oversupply of pine pulp currently on the market.

The CRP 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 lands to crop or pasture land. 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 rental payments have significantly increased.

This is a result of a review of the payment rates before sign-ups to ensure that the Soil Rental Rate reflects actual rental rates for comparable land. The CRP rental rate in Mississippi has been significantly lower than actual rental rates. Cash rental rates in Mississippi range from $70 to $140 per acre. The maximum rental rates in Mississippi have been lower than other surrounding states with identical soil types and rental rates. This has now changed due to efforts of Wildlife Mississippi and others and Mississippi's CRP rental rates are more closely in line with where they should be. For rental rates in your county, contact your county Farm Service Agency office.

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 CRP will not only enable landowners to develop waterfowl habitat, but 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 conservation benefits obtained from the protection of wildlife habitat. At the same time these restored lands create improved water quality, increased flood storage and reduced soil erosion. It is expected that Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas will lead the nation in land enrolled in this program. The program is limited to 500,000 acres nationwide.

Landowners should contact their local office of the Farm Service Agency in their local U.S. Department of Agriculture Service Center for further information.