NRCS Helping Landowners Restore 1,638 More Acres of Wetlands in Missouri

Columbia, MO -- The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will be providing about $5.8 million in financial and technical assistance to help landowners voluntarily restore 1,638 more acres of wetlands in Missouri, mostly along the Mississippi River and the Missouri River.

The funding is part of a $328 million national effort by USDA to protect and restore key farmlands, grasslands and wetlands through NRCS' Agricultural Conservation Easements Program (ACEP). The program is part of the 2014 Farm Bill. It consolidates three former NRCS programs ­ the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, Grassland Reserve Program and Wetlands Reserve Program.

Harold Deckerd, assistant state conservationist with NRCS in Missouri, said that all nine of the approved ACEP applications in Missouri focus on restoring wetlands. The nine approved applications and the size of the approved sites include: Atchison County (30 acres), Carroll County (38 acres), Linn County (82.7-acre site and 27-acre site), Clark County (206.7-acre site and 48.5-acre site), Stoddard County (711.6 acres), Pettis County (297 acres), and St. Charles County (196.5 acres).

Deckerd said this funding will be used to purchase the easements. NRCS also will assist later with the actual restoration process. In exchange for the easements, NRCS will pay the landowners per-acre rates based upon policy determined earlier. The rates take into consideration location and previous land use.

The rate for land in the seven counties with accepted applications ranges from $2,800 to $3,700 per acre. Deckerd said six of the accepted applications are for permanent easements that pay 100 percent of the per-acre rate. The other three applications are 30-year easements, which pay 75 percent of the per-acre rate.

State Conservationist J.R. Flores said restoring wetlands is important because of the benefits they provide.

Wetlands are areas saturated by water all or most of the year. Often called "nature's kidneys," wetlands naturally filter contaminants out of water. Wetlands also recharge groundwater; reduce flooding and soil erosion; support diverse populations of wildlife, plants and fish; improve aesthetics; and offer recreational opportunities.

At one time, wetlands covered 4.8 million acres of Missouri, primarily in the southeastern part of the state. They began to decline in the late 1800s amid competing land uses, reaching a low of about 640,000 acres by the 1980s. Through a combination of restoration efforts, there are about 1 million acres of wetlands in Missouri today. That total includes about 150,000 acres of wetlands that have been restored in Missouri with NRCS assistance since 1992.

"We know that we will never be able to restore all of Missouri's original wetlands because some of those areas where they were converted to cropland are among the best crop-producing land in the country," Flores said. "But at least we are moving in the right direction. As a conservationist, there is a lot more satisfaction in restoring wetlands than in seeing them drained."