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“It is another great example of state and federal agencies working with non-profit organizations and landowners to accomplish amazing conservation results.”— Scott Simon Go Deeper
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February 20, 2007
The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas recently teamed with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to secure $7.1 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) to acquire 6,250 acres along the Cache River and Bayou DeView, an area in the Big Woods where the ivory-billed woodpecker was rediscovered in 2004.
Typically marginal farmlands are enrolled in CREP—a U.S.D.A Farm Bill conservation program—during 10 or 15 year leases. To qualify for this high-incentive CREP, landowners must have a conservation easement on their property, which will ensure it's conserved in perpetuity. The Conservancy has agreed to purchase the easements for $160 per acre (totaling $1 million). As part of the deal, the Conservancy and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission are also providing some $1.3 million in in-kind services for title and closing work and for on-going monitoring to ensure program stipulations are met.
“This is truly a unique opportunity for the state and farm producers in the CREP project boundary," said Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe. "For farm producers in the project area, it will provide significant financial incentives and rental payments to retire their low-yielding, hard-to-farm croplands. Equally important, it will serve to restore premium wetland and wildlife habitat within the Cache River and Bayou DeView watershed. It’s a win-win-win partnership."
The 550,000-acre Big Woods in eastern Arkansas is one of the Mississippi River alluvial plain’s largest remaining corridors of bottomland forest. Made up of more than 20 distinct natural plant communities, its rivers are home to 80 percent of the aquatic species in the Mississippi Delta, and the area’s forests provide critical habitat for more than 265 species of birds, including the world’s largest population of wintering mallards.
"This project benefits wildlife, hunters, anglers, farmers and all Arkansans," said Scott Simon, the director of the Conservancy in Arkansas. "It is another great example of state and federal agencies working with non-profit organizations and landowners to accomplish amazing conservation results. It is an excellent investment of the donations the Conservancy has received from people in the state and around the country who care about restoring the Big Woods of Arkansas."
Nature picture credits: Photo © Byron Jorjorian
