The Natural Resources Conservation Service, working with the Mississippi River Trust and Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee through the Wetland Reserve Enhancement Partnership (WREP) program, is offering reforestation incentives to private landowners in the largest U.S. river floodplain.
The project focuses on securing Wetland Reserve Easements on cleared or open land that floods frequently in six states along the Lower Mississippi River. The project area is known as the “batture” and covers 2 million acres from Cairo, Illinois, to the Port of Baton Rouge in Louisiana.
Most of the batture can flood for weeks or months at a time every year, often during the growing season. Since the project began in 2012, NRCS and its partners have closed Wetland Reserve Easements on 25,038 acres in the project area, with another 7,216 acres pending closure, for a total of 32,254 acres. All land with closed easements is being replanted with bottomland hardwood seedlings.
Reforestation of these batture lands will lessen the amount of excess nutrients entering the river and the Gulf of Mexico; reduce flooding of farmland; save taxpayer dollars in the form of avoided commodity, disaster assistance, and crop insurance payments; increase carbon sequestration; expand habitat for black bears, migratory birds, white-tailed deer, and other wildlife; help protect levees and navigation infrastructure; and increase opportunities for outdoor recreation.
Matching funds for the project are provided by the Walton Family Foundation, the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, International Paper Company, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
