MRBI WREP OCTOBER 2014 Summary

Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program (WREP) Special funding source through the national Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI) Component of the USDA Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) Project area: watersheds of Obion Creek, Bayou du Chien, and lower Mayfield Creek Reference map

Why Here?? Much of far western KY was historically wetlands; large potential for wetland restoration in this area Highly agricultural watersheds with high nutrient runoff to Mississippi River Opportunity to reduce sediment and nutrient inputs to local watersheds and Mississippi River basin Benefit to threatened and endangered species such as Indiana bat and relict darter Lack of levee along Mississippi River Have been working in this area since 2003; identified as priority area by partners and SWAP

WREP Program Objectives 2011-2015: 4 year goal of enrolling 5,500 acres, leveraging $1 m in private funding to bring over $20 m of federal funds to this area Purchase conservation easements from willing landowners Protect, restore, and enhance wetland function and wildlife habitat on enrolled acres Tremendous capacity for leverage

Partnerships NRCS/TNC – Have entered into a formal agreement in order to share staff and resources. Has been vital to this project being a success. KDOC/Graves County Conservation District – Host for WRP Technician position; co funded by NRCS and TNC West KY Wetland Reserve Easement includes: NRCS, USFWS, KDFWR, Graves SWCD, & TNC

Marketing and Outreach Prioritized marketing efforts based presence of eligible soils, proximity to protected areas, and known TE records Initial efforts targeted the “Upper Bottoms Focus Area”, then outward to the three “HUC12 Priority Areas”, then out to the rest of the WREP eligible area As time went on additional “hot spots” appeared.

Marketing and Outreach WREP Brochure “Fact Sheets” Table Top Display 300 Letters 190 Postcards 4 Newspaper articles 2 Formal landowner meetings Oodles and oodles of phone calls TNC Video TNC Website Yielded: Over 53 applications covering 8016 acres

Grand Totals!! WREP 2014 WRE within the WREP area Total Projects 26 5 31 Acres 3573 622 4195 Acquisition Costs $9,354,197.56 $1,898,765.00 $11,252,962.00 Restoration Costs $1,165,690.55 $185,735.00 $1,351,425.50 5% TNC Match $67,571.28

Other things to cheer about!! Kentucky is paving the way in the realm of degraded wetland restoration Strengthened partnerships leading to increased capacity Increased awareness of WRE in the project area We have had more projects than we can fund Great deal of interest from Murray State University to conduct monitoring/research on effects of WREP restoration