20 Years of Conservation Success

In 1989, the Mississippi Chapter of The Nature Conservancy opened its first office. Today, the chapter has 26 staff with expertise in marine science, freshwater ecology, forestry and agriculture, wildlife biology, botany, habitat restoration, and prescribed fire.

In 1998, the Mississippi Chapter began a partnership with the Mississippi Army National Guard. Since opening an office at Camp Shelby, Conservancy scientists have conducted leading research on a variety of endangered and threatened species, including the gopher tortoise and the black pine snake.

Since 2003, the chapter has completed a Conservation Action Plan for the Buttahatchie River watershed, implemented a stream-bank stabilization demonstration project, and initiated a two-year project to continue stabilization and restoration work demonstrating methods for improving water quality.

In 2004, the Federal Highway Administration recognized the Charles M. Deaton Preserve as one of the seven “Exemplary Ecosystems” of national importance.

In 2006, the chapter committed to working with partners and private landowners in the Mississippi Delta in an effort to inform and implement best land management practices in the third largest watershed in the world.

In 2007, for the first time in decades after years of restoration work, federally endangered Mississippi sandhill cranes nested on Conservancy property in Jackson County at Old Fort Bayou Mitigation Bank. There are only about 100 of these rare birds remaining.

Through controlled burns the Mississippi Chapter has restored approximately 3,000 acres of fire dependent habitat. The chapter has also restored more than 25 acres of oyster reefs along the Mississippi coast.

The Mississippi Chapter has protected more than 133,000 acres of important disappearing habitats in Mississippi including more than 16,000 acres in the Mississippi Gulf Coastal Preserves.

The Nature Conservancy
Mississippi Field Office
405 Briarwood Drive, Suite 101
Jackson, MS 39206
(601) 713-3355