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Mississippi Department of Transportation
Cooperative Partnerships Enhancing Federal, State and Non-profit Resources
Roads crisscross the country, serving as the backbone of the economy and enhancing our quality of life. While facilitating mobility for millions, these corridors also take a toll on America’s wildlife and natural landscapes. Highways, related construction and the resulting development impact vital landscapes, air and water quality and native plant and animal species.
With these impacts in mind, many may find partnerships between roadbuilding agencies and conservation groups like the Conservancy a little unexpected. What some may see as a nontraditional partnership is helping avoid conflicts between transportation projects and sensitive habitats in Mississippi.
The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) entered into a five-year Memorandum of Agreement with The Nature Conservancy in Mississippi in Summer 2005 to offset habitat loss that will result from future roadbuilding. Under the agreement, MDOT will fund the restoration of almost 10 miles of streams on a 3,035 acre tract adjacent to Red Creek, a major tributary of the Pascagoula River and a priority conservation area in Mississippi. The restoration work will also entail 100 acres of wet-pine and pond cypress flatwood enhancement, 250 acres of bottomland hardwood enhancement, 100 acres of evergreen bayhead enhancement and restoration of 900 acres of upland habitat for the threatened gopher tortoise. With the partnership almost in its second year, Conservancy staff have completed intitial baseline studies and archaeological surveys of the property.
In return for this conservation investment, MDOT will receive stream and wetland mitigation credits to satisfy its obligations under the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act for environmental impacts caused by transportation construction. By partnering with the Conservancy, the state can avoid project delays while effectively mitigating for its transportation projects and protecting some of Mississippi’s most sensitive habitat.
Investing in large-scale, consolidated projects that mitigate for multiple transportation improvements ensures that the mitigation is done at sufficient scale to achieve long-term conservation results. Moreover, MDOT saves time and incurs lower costs than if mitigation were done on a project-by-project basis.
The project began with the Conservancy purchasing 10,000 acres of checkerboard land for conservation in public and private ownership. It has now evolved into a broad partnership whose goal is to promote fire management as a restoration tool on the larger landscape.
This project is not the first of its kind in Mississippi. Last year The Nature Conservancy and MDOT received one of just seven Federal Highway Administration Exemplary Ecosystem Awards for a similar project in Southeast Mississippi.
The Conservancy’s work with MDOT is an exciting example of how non-traditional and innovative partnerships are furthering conservation while meeting transportation needs.
For More Information:
- Where We Work: The Nature Conservancy in Mississippi
The Nature Conservancy of Mississippi has been working with members and conservation partners to protect more than 130,000 acres of critical natural lands in Mississippi. - Places We Protect: Upper Pascagoula Preserves Management
The Pascagoula watershed rings with the calls of 327 species of birds that breed among the sprawling cypress-tupelo swamps, oxbow lakes and pine ridges. - Online Field Guide: Pascagoula Watershed
A strong sense of heritage and local activism has allowed the Pascagoula River to remain the only free-flowing waterway of its size in the lower 48. - Press Release: Mississippi Department of Transportation and The Nature Conservancy Announce Partnership
he Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) in conjunction with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will purchase wetland mitigation credits offered by the Nature Conservancy at two sites: Old Fort Bayou and the Charles M. Deaton Preserve of Mississippi. - How We Work: Nature Conservancy Partnerships
The Nature Conservancy pursues non-confrontational, pragmatic, market-based solutions to conservation challenges. This makes it essential for us to work collaboratively with partners – communities, businesses, government agencies, multilateral institutions, individuals and other non-profit organizations.
