A boat passing through swamp water. — Protecting Wetlands A boat passes through the swamp near Belle River, Louisiana, within the Atchafalaya River Basin. © Rory Doyle

Nature Briefs

MILESTONE: 1 MILLION ACRES PROTECTED

Crops grown in the Mississippi River alluvial valley—stretching from southern Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico—feed the world. Yet this bounty has come at the expense of the extensive forested wetlands that once covered 24 million acres, most of which were drained, logged and converted into farmland, leaving only about 5 million acres of the original habitat. In 1990, to reverse this decline, the U.S. government established its first wetland easement program to incentivize the protection and restoration of those kinds of areas.

Today, more than 1 million acres across the valley have been protected and restored through that first program and its successor, the Wetland Reserve Easements (WRE) program.

The Nature Conservancy played a significant role in achieving this milestone. Realizing the potential to leverage WRE funds in areas of high conservation value, TNC collaborated in the formation of the Tri-state Conservation Partnership in 2013 to promote the easement program in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas. As a testament to the partnership’s success, the overwhelming majority of the 1 million acres—850,000—are in those three states

Benefits of Protecting and Restoring

The Benefits of Protecting and Restoring Wetlands and Bottomland Hardwood Forests on Agricultural Lands

Helping farmers: Funding conservation in areas that are not productive provides income that buffers farmers from economic and climatic fluctuations.
Saving money: WRE program costs are offset by avoiding tax expenditures on commodity, crop insurance and disaster programs.
Flood protection: Wetlands absorb and slow water flow.
Better water quality: Wetlands absorb up to 90% of nutrients from fertilizers, improving conditions for aquatic life and safeguarding seafood production.
Sustaining species: Connected and healthier habitat supports waterfowl, songbirds, bears and other animals.

Berger Preserve In early 2025, TNC transferred the 865-acre Alexander Berger Memorial Sanctuary to the Patawomeck Indian Tribe of Virginia. © Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation

Alexander Berger Memorial Sanctuary The trails at this preserve are easy to hike. © Clay Murray

BACK TO THE LAND

The Nature Conservancy transferred the 865-acre Alexander Berger Memorial Sanctuary to the Patawomeck Indian Tribe of Virginia in 2025. Located along the Rappahannock River, a major tributary to the Chesapeake Bay, the property lies within the Tribe’s ancestral homelands.

“Our community has not owned ancestral lands for 400 years,” says Chief Charles Bullock. “A lot of people poured their heart and soul into this project, which shows that it is worth working hard for anything that is dear to us.”

Researchers from the University of Mary Washington have since worked alongside Tribal members to study precolonial land use and the geology and condition of forested areas to inform land-management planning. Chief Bullock says recreational and community-building activities are in the works, including a workshop on making traditional Patawomeck eel pots from materials sustainably harvested from the property. “Everything we do, we seek to do it in a sustainable way to give back and live in a reciprocal way with the land.”

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