Ducks Unlimited targets west Tennessee for conservation easements

MEMPHIS, Tenn., November 20, 2007 – Ducks Unlimited and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency are encouraging enrollment in conservation easements to protect critical habitat in west Tennessee. These easements will focus on bottomland hardwood and other flood-prone habitats within the Mississippi River floodplain. A supporting grant comes from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
 
“The ultimate objective of this project is permanent protection of critical wetland habitat,” said Chris Cole, Ducks Unlimited’s director of conservation programs for Tenn. “Protecting properties with conservation easements greatly reduces or eliminates the chance critical habitats will be lost or degraded,” Cole said.

While waterfowl will benefit from protection of these areas, conserving habitat for nongame animals is the primary focus of the supporting grant. Included in the myriad of species benefiting from these easements are many species identified in Tennessee’s Wildlife Action Plan, such as the Wood Thrush, Mississippi Kite, Cerulean Warbler, several bats, and multiple reptiles and amphibians.

“The Mississippi River floodplain is known for its bottomland hardwood swamps,” said Richard Kirk, state wildlife grant coordinator with TWRA. However, some counties in the western portion of Tennessee have lost as much as 90 percent of these forests since the 1950’s. “That is why we hope to enroll as much of this vanishing habitat as possible in conservation easements.”

Ducks Unlimited biologist Tim Willis will contact landowners in key areas about the possibility of enrollment.

“I hope to conduct at least one conservation easement seminar per year,” Willis said. “Seminars are great opportunities for landowners to find out more about easements, and I get the advantage of talking to multiple landowners at once.”

Biologists tailor easements to the conservation values and characteristics of a particular property and to the owner’s personal financial needs and conservation goals. In most cases, easements allow landowners to continue to use their property for hunting, fishing, agriculture and timber production while protecting the natural integrity of the land.

“Easements are permanent, so properties protected will remain undeveloped regardless of future ownership,” Willis said. “Because private landowners hold most of the undeveloped land in the United States, including 75 percent of the remaining wetlands, easements are an increasingly vital tool for conservation.”

With more than a million supporters, Ducks Unlimited is the world’s largest and most effective wetland and waterfowl conservation organization with almost 12 million acres conserved. The United States alone has lost more than half of its original wetlands - nature’s most productive ecosystem - and continues to lose more than 80,000 wetland acres each year.

Contact: Andi Cooper
Regional Biologist- Communications
(601) 206-5463
acooper@ducks.org

For more on conservation easements go to: http://www.ducks.org/Conservation/ConservationEasements/2825/ConservationEasementsandLandProtectionProgram.html
For more on Ducks Unlimited conservation efforts in Tennessee go to: http://www.ducks.org/Page1788.aspx