Farm Acres Going Back To Wetlands

Sun., Aug. 13, 1995

Staff And Wire Reports

Conservation

More than 3,700 landowners are offering to enroll 572,500 acres in the Agriculture Department’s wetlands restoration and preservation program.

The department will select an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 high-priority acres of wetlands that have been drained and used as farmland. The selected acreage will be restored as wetlands. Ownership and access remain with the landowner.

Owners can be paid no more than the farm value of the land before it was converted to wetlands.

The program is designed to protect and restore wetlands to provide habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife, help purify water supplies, and absorb floodwaters.

“This is a tremendous response by landowners,” said Paul Johnson, chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The 10 states where landowners offered the most acres during the sign-up period that ended June 30 are: Louisiana, 66,270 acres; Texas, 64,560; Arkansas, 42,950; Oregon, 42,170; Oklahoma, 40,690; California, 34,490; Missouri, 31,750; Mississippi, 30,510; Iowa, 28,550; and South Dakota, 25,320.

Washington was low on the list with 75 applicants bidding for about 15,000 acres.

The conservation service will contact landowners by early September with offers for enrollment in the program.

, DataTimes

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