Lower Mississippi Valley Largescale Watershed Project
Monitoring
Delivery
ANNUAL REPORT
FY 2002
Sustainability
Planning
Pre 1900
1950
2000
Restoring The Delta:
Partnerships For Sustainable
Restoration In the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley
I.
Partnership Overview
2
II.
Partnership Goals
3
III. Accomplishments
4
a. Actions
4
b. Environmental Consequences / Outcomes
6
c. Growth
6
d. Products Produced
7
IV.
Future Actions and Opportunities
7
V.
Partnership Budget
8
VI.
Partnership Contacts
8
1
Restoring The Delta:
Partnerships For
Sustainable Restoration In the Lower Mississippi Alluvial
Valley
I. Partnership Overview
Forested Acres (millions)
The Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley
(LMAV) covers more than 24 million acres
in parts of seven states extending from
southern Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico.
Historically, the LMAV was largely
bottomland hardwood forests. Flooding of
the mighty Mississippi River and its
tributaries shaped this land. Rich soils left
by these floods produced a vast forested
wetland sheltering a great diversity of
Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley
wildlife. Settlers in the 1800’s, searching for
fertile farmland, cleared forests, starting
from the highest and best-drained sites. During the 1900’s flood control efforts
straightened and deepened rivers, drained swamps, and encouraged forest clearing on
lower, wetter sites. Between 1950 and 1976, approximately one-third of the LMAV’s
bottomland forests were converted to agriculture. By the 1980’s less than 20% of the
original forest was left.
Deforestation and draining of wetland areas resulted in a loss of critical wildlife and
fish habitat, decreased water quality, reduced floodwater retention, and increased
sediment loads, all of which have contributed to the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Environmental Protection Agency has identified the Mississippi Delta as an area of
significant concern regarding surface and ground water quality. The Lower Mississippi
Alluvial Valley is also one of seven high priority areas originally identified in the North
American Waterfowl Management Plan.
The restoration journey has begun.
Numerous agencies and organizations
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including the Fish and Wildlife Service,
20
Ducks Unlimited, state natural resource
agencies, USDA Forest Service, Natural
15
Resource Conservation Service, Corps
of Engineers, Environmental Protection
10
Agency, Business Council for
5
Sustainable Development, Delta Council,
and Lower Mississippi Valley Joint
0
Venture, are playing a variety of roles in
1600 1820 1937 1947 1957 1967 1977 1990
Year
restoring this valuable ecosystem.
Bottom
Hardwood
Forest Acreage in the LMAV
Restoring the Delta seeks to catalyze
and expand existing partnerships among
2
the public and private interests addressing restoration needs and management
challenges in the LMAV. Because over 90 percent of the LMAV is in private ownership,
developing economically viable restoration is critical to achieving the biological needs of
the LMAV.
Simply put…it’s about providing economically and biologically sustainable restoration
using Federal, State, and non-governmental agencies, organizations, landowners and
companies. Restoring the Delta is being implemented on a state-by-state basis with
restoration being delivered by the existing partners programs developed in support of
the Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture.
II.
Partnership Goals
Restoration work in the LMAV is achieved
through satisfying the landowners’ (public or
Our goal…
private) objectives (biologic, economic or
community). Regardless of what motivated
2 million acres of vegetation
landowners or managers to restore, the
1 million acres of hydrology
ultimate effect is improved watershed health.
In order to help achieve significant watershed
…over the next 20 years
health improvement in the 24-million acre
LMAV, the Restoring the Delta partnership
has established the ambitious goal of 2 million acres of vegetation and 1 million acres of
hydrology over the next 20 years.
Our approach is to address issues in three broad areas: restoration, research and
education. The restoration component includes project development and delivery on
private and public lands that is driven by landowner / manager objectives, rather than
programmatic guidelines, and secondly, product development to support the biologic
and economic decision-making necessary for project implementation. The intent of the
research component is to fully coordinate research activities in the LMAV to help
efficiently identify research needs, avoid duplication and provide meaningful information
important to delivering the restoration component of Restoring The Delta. The
purpose of the education component is to create a comprehensive understanding
among private landowners and public land
managers about the benefits of
biologically and economically sustainable
Our approach…
restoration at the local scale and
Develop biologically and
illustrates how local restoration benefits
economically diverse, public and private
regional restoration objectives. The
landscape level restoration.
concept is that education leads to
Focus research on biologic,
motivation. Although all three areas are
economic
and social restoration issues
interrelated and critical to the success of
Provide
sustainable restoration
Restoring The Delta, the primary initial
education
focus is on the restoration component.
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The FY 2002 Goals:
1. Develop 1,500 acres of vegetative and hydrologic restoration in the LMAV.
2. Implement Restoring the Delta in the States of Mississippi and Louisiana.
3. Deliver GIS forest change detection product covering the last 50 years in the
LMAV to be used as a restoration-planning tool.
4. Conduct a Carbon Sequestration Conference for the LMAV.
5. Deliver a multi-media environmental trading presentation to illustrate the concept
of developing an environmental credit project within a watershed.
6. Establish a black willow regeneration study to determine the practical application
of using black willow on restoration sites.
7. Double the number of partners in Restoring the Delta.
8. Increase partners’ contributions by 50%.
III. Accomplishments
A. Actions
1. Developed 750 acres of
vegetative and hydrologic
restoration and enhancement
(Table 1). Of this total, 185
acres of afforestation, 90
acres of hydrologic
restoration and 200 of
hydrologic enhancement were implemented in 2002. The remaining 275
acres of afforestation will be implemented in Winter 2002/2003.
Table 1. Restoration and Enhancement Acres by State.
State
Arkansas Louisiana Mississippi
Action
Total
Restoration
Bottomland
Hydrology (Moist Soil)
Hydrology (BLH)
185
0
0
0
0
0
275
90
0
460
90
0
0
0
185
0
0
0
0
200
565
0
200
750
Enhancement
Vegetative
Hydrologic
Total
4
Completed design work for Rookery Lake Project on Delta
National Forest. This is an 80-acre wetland/waterfowl
enhancement project being developed by a partnership
between Ducks Unlimited, Forest
Service and U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers. Implementation is
dependent on available funding from
the Corps of Engineers in FY03.
South
GTR
Drain
2. Implemented Restoring the
Existing Pump
Delta in the States of Mississippi
and Louisiana. Project delivery
in Mississippi will be through the
Weir Site
Mississippi Partners Program,
which includes Ducks Unlimited,
Mississippi Department of
Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks,
Delta Wildlife Foundation, Wildlife Mississippi and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service. Project delivery in Louisiana will be through the Louisiana Office of
Forestry, Ducks Unlimited and the USDA Forest Service.
3. Formed organizing committee for the LMAV Carbon Conference to be held in
November 2003. The organizing committee includes representatives from the
USDA Forest Service, Ducks Unlimited, The Conservation Fund,
Environmental Synergy Inc., U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, The Nature Conservancy, and Edison Electric Institute. The purpose
of the conference is to bring together companies, agencies, organizations and
individuals interested in addressing the economic, policy, and research issues
that will define an ecologically based carbon sequestration program in the
LMAV. The emphasis will be on applied
and/or management aspects important to
WILDLIFE
delivering terrestrial carbon sequestration
projects that link the management of the
Nation’s greenhouse gas emissions
and the restoration of nationally
significant fish, wildlife and forest
resources.
NATURAL
FLOOD STORAGE
WATER QUALITY
4. In partnership with the USDA Forest
Service’s Center for Bottomland Hardwood
CARBON SEQUESTRATION
Research, initiated a black willow
ECONOMICS, POLICIES, AND RESEARCH OF
ENVIRONMENTALLY-SENSITIVE
regeneration study to determine the
TERRESTRIAL CARBON SEQUESTRATION
practical application of using black willow
on restoration sites. The planting sites were selected, but the willow cuttings
could not be obtained due to siltation around the source willow trees. The
cuttings will be planted in FY03.
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B. Environmental Consequences / Outcomes
The primary emphasis in FY 2002 was the continued development of
partnerships, GIS conservation planning tools, and initial restoration projects
in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. A primary emphasis in FY 2003 will
be the development of a comprehensive, regional program to establish
indicators and to measure the consequences of the environmental outputs.
C. Growth
1. The number of partners participating in Restoring the Delta more than
doubled. This included the addition of five nonprofit organizations, three state
agencies, three Federal agencies, and two companies (Table 2.).
Table 2. Listing of Restoring the Delta Partners
Restoring the Delta Partners
2001
2002
USDA Forest Service
Ducks Unlimited
Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture
Natural Resources Conservation Service (Ark)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Ark)
Arkansas Forestry Commission
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
USDA Forest Service
Ducks Unlimited
Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture
Natural Resources Conservation Service (Ark)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Ark)
Wildlife Mississippi
Delta Wildlife Foundation
American Forest Foundation
The Nature Conservancy
Edison Electric Institute
Mississippi Forestry Commission
MS Dept. of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks
Louisiana Office of Forestry
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (MS)
U.S. Geological Survey
International Paper Company
Environmental Synergy, Inc.
Arkansas Forestry Commission
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
2. Annual Restoring the Delta funding has increased 137 percent from the
baseline year of FY00. Partner contributions have increased by 100 percent
from FY00, with an increase of 28 percent from FY01 to FY02.
Funding ($000)
1200
1000
Partners
Projected
Forest Service
800
600
400
200
0
FY00
FY01
6
Year
FY02
FY03
D. Products Produced
1. Completed GIS forest change detection planning tool. This planning tool was
developed through a Ducks Unlimited and the USDA Forest Service
partnership to evaluate the change in forested area from 1972 to 2001.
Because clearing of the LMAV generally occurred from the highest and driest
Pre 1900
19 5 0
20 0 0
Forest Cover
areas to the lowest and wettest areas in the landscape, this tool will help
identify those areas that were most recently cleared (lowest and wettest
areas), and therefore, the areas that are a higher priority for restoration.
2. Developed a multi-media environmental trading presentation to illustrate the
concept of developing an environmental credit project within a watershed.
Credit
The product uses the environmental
Bundle
benefits and costs of various types of
Value
environmental restoration to illustrate how
Tent
Polygon
“credits” from one portion of a watershed
can be traded to offset environmental loss
in other parts of the same watershed. This
presentation will be used to develop
support among stakeholders in the
Mississippi Delta for a pilot credit-trading project.
Development
Hunting
Wetlands
Carbon
Sequestration
TMDL
Habitat
IV. Future Actions and Opportunities
In the coming year Restoring The Delta will continue to refine its approach, broaden
its partnerships, expand its restoration goals and continue to contribute technical tools,
information and assistance to public and private interests in the LMAV. Activities over
the next year include:
1. Develop 2,000 acres of vegetative and hydrologic restoration in the LMAV.
2. Implement a comprehensive marketing/communication program for
Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
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3. Assess GIS technology transfer needs for Arkansas, Louisiana and
Mississippi.
4. Develop indicators and outcome analysis program.
5. Make initial partnership contacts in Kentucky and Tennessee.
6. Deliver a GIS forest cover data layer of the 1950’s using historic photos.
This will be combined with an existing GIS forest change planning tool that
covers the period from the 1970’s to present.
7. Increase the number of partners by 20%
8. Increase partners’ contributions by 20%.
V.
Partnership Budget
Forest Service
Partner
s
53%
47%
Fiscal Year 2002
Total Funding $889,500
VI. Partnership Contacts
Gary L. Young, Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley Watershed Coordinator, USDA
Forest Service, (601) 206-5466, gyoung@ducks.org
Curtis Hopkins, Director of Conservation Programs, Southern Regional Office,
Ducks Unlimited, (601) 206-5445, chopkins@ducks.org
Ted Leininger, Project Leader, Center for Bottomland Hardwood Research,
USDA Forest Service, (662) 686-3178, tleininger@fs.fed.us
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