1. MRBI WREP
OCTOBER 2014 Summary

2. 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

3. 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

4. WREP Program Objectives
: 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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

8. Grand Totals!! WREP 2014 WRE within the WREP area Total Projects 26 531
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

10. 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