Current Project

LMRV Project The project consists of bottomland hardwood forest restoration in the Lower Mississippi River Valley to sequester carbon dioxide and create wildlife habitat. Nursery raised seedlings will be planted at Wetland Reserve Program standards, on a 12 X 12 foot spacing for an initial density of 302 seedlings per acre. Native species to be used include sweet gum, bald cypress, persimmon, native pecan, mayhaw, honey locust, sycamore, hackberry, winged elm, and a variety of oaks.

The Lower Mississippi River Valley (LMRV) once contained nearly 22 million acres of highly productive bottomland hardwoods. However, during the 1900’s we built levees, drained swamps, and encouraged forest clearing of wetlands, all in the name of flood control. Between 1950 and 1976, approximately one-third of the Valley’s bottomland forests were converted to agriculture.

By the 1980’s less than 20% of the original forested wetlands were left. Deforestation and draining of wetlands resulted in a loss of critical wildlife and fish habitat, decreased water quality, reduced flood water retention, and increased sediment loads, all of which have contributed to an expansion of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. With the lack of wetlands to filter the abundant rain runoff and increased pollution do to farming, water clarity has decreased, pollution from pesticide and herbicide increased, toxicity to fish and other aquatic organisms increased, which contributes to oxygen depletion and eutrophication (algae blum).

Nearly 40% of North America’s Waterfowl and 60% of all bird species in the United States migrate through the LMRV. The LMRV is considered one of the most important and degraded ecosystems on the North American continent. No other wetland system in North America has suffered such reductions. Much of the land was poorly suited for crops due to low soil productivity, and cultivation has contributed to extensive soil erosion and nitrogen fertilizer contributing to the hypoxia zone and degraded fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico.

The extensive clearing was also devastating to wildlife habitats, destroying and fragmenting wooded habitats critical to migratory birds, waterfowl, and protected species such as the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, and the Louisiana black bear. 

This project will create a new carbon sink by restoring the original bottomland hardwood forest on marginal agriculture lands. Not only will the project sequester additional incremental carbon through the accumulation of above and below ground biomass, it will eliminate fuel emissions from agricultural cultivation equipment that would otherwise be emitted by farming this land. Without your assistance in funding this reforestation project, the land would continue to be used for farming for the foreseeable future.

Secondary Benefits

What sets reforestation projects apart from other carbon offset programs are the ancillary benefits. Restoration of bottomland hardwood forests in the LMRV contribute to the strategic environmental security of America’s central heartland. 

Planting native trees on this marginal agricultural land for carbon sequestration purposes helps reverse many of the above impacts. Reforestation decreases soil and nutrient inputs to waters, reducing the dead zone and helping to improve fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. Reforestation restores wildlife corridors by connecting fragmented habitats, restores habitat for migratory neotropical birds (song birds) and waterfowl thereby increasing regional biodiversity. The project thus contributes to the habitat restoration goals of the North American Waterfowl Plan, the soil protection goals of the USDA’s Wetland Reserve and Conservation Reserve Programs, and reduces the flood protection burden of the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Leakage

There will be no significant leakage as there are millions of acres of other agricultural lands in the geographical area of this project to continue to support agricultural demand. The land we will be planting consists of small farms that are not competitive with larger more efficient farms which have access to more resources and more technologically advanced equipment. In addition, marginal farmlands in high flood risk areas are not as productive as farmland that is better suited for farming. Therefore, it is believed that the acres given up to reforestation are given up for the long-term and acreages elsewhere will not be converted from forest to annual cropland.

Project Life

The project life will be 100 years. The land will be enrolled in a conservation easement or, if permitted, the Wetlands Reserve Program which will ensure the purpose of the land will be fulfilled even if it is sold or transferred. To ensure this goal is met the encumbrance will be recorded with the legal title of the land.