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The Nature Conservancy and the Natural Resources Conservation Service Formalize Partnership

Posted on: Friday, 18 February 2005, 18:00 CST

PEORIA, Ill, Feb. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Washington officials today announced a nationwide partnership between The Nature Conservancy and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a division of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

USDA's Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, Mark Rey, Monday will formally announce the collaboration, along with Steve McCormick, president and chief executive officer of The Nature Conservancy, and NRCS Chief Bruce Knight. They will be joined by community leaders and area residents at Dickson Mounds Museum, Lewistown, Illinois.

A highlight of the announcement was the acceptance of Emiquon, the Conservancy's central Illinois wetland restoration project, in the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP). About 6,400 acres of the Conservancy's 7,100-acre Emiquon project will be enrolled in a NRCS WRP easement for 30 years. WRP is a popular Farm Bill program that offers landowners payment, based on the agricultural value of wetlands that were drained for farming.

"Emiquon was once the most productive floodplain ecosystem in Illinois," said McCormick. "When the area was leveed 80 years ago it became productive farmland. Now, through the partnership with NRCS we have an opportunity to make Emiquon more productive for fish, birds and all forms of wildlife, as well as hikers, fishers, bird watchers, hunters, photographers, historians, scientists and students. This will be a magnificent place that supports a vibrant economy, a higher quality of life, and the long-term health of the nationally significant Illinois River," McCormick said.

Freshwater is a critical global concern and is likely to be one of the most important issues of this century. Wetlands foster clean water by filtering and collecting sediment, keeping our nation's rivers cleaner and clearer. Across Illinois, marginal agricultural land or farmland adjacent to rivers or water courses that lie within the floodplain, are now being converted back into native bottomland wetlands.

With federal technical and financial assistance, the NRCS assists local landowners in a voluntary conversion of these cropland acres through WRP, a nationwide program. Since 1994, NRCS has administered $116 million in WRP funds for the purchase of easements and wetland restoration costs in Illinois.

"A restoration plan will be developed for Emiquon by the Conservancy and NRCS. NRCS' WRP funds and staff will support restoration and management of this wetland which will include the return of lakes, a new wetland habitat for fish, birds, plants and other species, and acres of native trees and grasses," said Bill Gradle, state conservationist for NRCS. "Emiquon will help store floodwaters, offer tremendous recreational opportunities for local communities, and will demonstrate the benefits that wetland restoration provides. It will be a destination point, a living science and education center for people of all ages. Wetland restoration provides important wildlife habitat, restores native wooded corridors, cleans the water, and adds diversity to landscapes," Gradle said.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed today formalized the collaboration between the Conservancy and NRCS. The partnership will generate many natural resource-based projects across the country, similar to the Emiquon project.

"Together, the Conservancy and NRCS have set a new standard, one that will influence conservation nationwide. The Memorandum of Understanding that was signed promotes the sharing of conservation practices, strategies and scientific expertise," said Rey. "The agreement supports our mutual goals and will help more private landowners be aware of NRCS conservation programs that are available. This new partnership is what the President refers to as cooperative conservation. We need cooperative conservation like this to achieve our collective national conservation goals."

"NRCS and the Conservancy share a commitment to protecting natural resources in a way that meets human needs and protects important wildlife habitat," McCormick said. "The Conservancy has worked closely for years with NRCS staff around the country. This new agreement will encourage our organizations to collaborate even more closely. Together we will strive to develop effective conservation strategies and learning opportunities that will help advance the goals of voluntary private land and water conservation," he said.

Both organizations work with local communities through community- based projects and field offices. NRCS will utilize the Conservancy as a resource to facilitate new conservation strategies, support technology transfer, conservation learning and provide scientific expertise.

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Note to Media: B-roll package and still photos are available. Contact Andrew Simpson at 312-759-8017 ext.22 asimpson(At)tnc.org .

The Nature Conservancy is a leading international, non-profit organization that preserves the plants, animals and natural communities representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped to preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit us on the Web at http://nature.org .

USDA NRCS is an equal opportunity employer and provider. Visit NRCS at http://www.il.nrcs.usda.gov .

http://www.usnewswire.com

Source: U.S. Newswire

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