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News and Events
Conservation Partners Announce Enrollment to Manage Wildlife Habitat on Private Lands in Mississippi
Thursday, March 12, 2009
A partnership of 21 federal and state agencies, conservation organizations and private companies is working to restore, enhance, and manage wildlife habitat on privately-owned property in Mississippi. This group is called the Mississippi Partners for Fish and Wildlife (MPFW) and they are actively seeking private landowners who are interested in doing “on the ground” habitat projects to improve their property for wildlife in 2009.
With about two-thirds of our nation’s land in private ownership, landowners are important keepers of essential fish and wildlife habitat. As Aldo Leopold, the father of wildlife conservation, noted over 75 years ago, it is prudent that “…we recognize the landowner as the custodian of public game … and compensate … with cash, service or protection for the use of his land…” MPFW is working to do some of those very things.
Throughout its history, MPFW has been very successful in working with private landowners to restore wildlife habitat throughout Mississippi. The state is divided into five habitat types: wetlands, longleaf pine, native prairie, uplands, and aquatics and MPFW has expanded its focus to help landowners actively manage these habitats.
Participants in the Mississippi Partners for Fish and Wildlife are:
- Audubon Mississippi
- Delta Wildlife Inc.
- Ducks Unlimited
- Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce
- Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
- Mississippi Department of Transportation
- Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks
- Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation
- Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation
- Mississippi Forestry Commission
- Mississippi Soil and Water Conservation Commission
- Mississippi State University Extension Service
- Mississippi Wildlife Federation
- Mississippi Wildlife Fisheries and Parks Foundation
- Mississippi Chapter - National Wild Turkey Federation
- Natural Resource Conservation Service
- Quail Unlimited
- Tara Wildlife
- The Nature Conservancy
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Weyerhaeuser Company
Examples of projects in wetland habitats include:
- bottomland hardwood reforestation and hydrological restoration in wetlands;
- moist-soil management in former catfish ponds and other impoundments;
- undesirable woody vegetation control in forested wetlands;
- invasive aquatic weed control;
- and crop residue management to enhance waterfowl foraging habitat.
Examples of projects in longleaf pine habitats include:
- longleaf pine reforestation,
- invasive plant species (cogon grass) control,
- prescribed burning,
- and timber stand improvements.
Examples of projects in native prairie habitats include:
- reintroduction of native warm season grasses to native prairies,
- prescribed burning,
- control of introduced or undesirable vegetation.
Examples of projects in upland habitats include:
- timber stand improvement techniques (prescribed burning, thinning) in pine stands,
- mixed pine hardwood stands and upland hardwood stands.
Examples of projects in aquatic habitats include:
- removal of barriers to provide fish passage,
- invasive aquatic weed control,
- and activities that improve water quality and provide fish habitat.
“Mississippi’s landowners are very interested in managing wildlife habitat, but sometimes lack the most effective tools or the sufficient finances to best achieve their objectives. I firmly believe that this partnership will be an effective way for landowners to leverage their limited funds with MPFW technical and financial assistance to improve wildlife habitat on private lands,” said Ed Penny, MDWFP Waterfowl Program Coordinator. “It is our hope that this cooperative partnership will serve as a working model for other states in the Southeast Region.”
Private landowners interested in learning more about MPFW should contact the program coordinators in the habitat type in which they are interested. General information is posted on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Mississippi Field Office website at: http://www.fws.gov/southeast/jackson/index.html.
Contacts:
- Ed Penny, MPFW Wetlands Coordinator, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, 601-432-2202,
- Randy Browning, MPFW Longleaf Pine Coordinator, US Fish and Wildlife Service, 601-264-6010,
- Daniel Coggins, MPFW Native Prairrie Coordinator, Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation, 662-432-2202,
- Jeffrey Lee, MPFW Uplands Coordinator, Natural Resource Conservation Service, 601-965-4559,
- Randy Reed, MPFW Aquatics Coordinator, FTN Associates, 601-987-3040,