Sustaining Natural Habitats and Wildlife

Landowner Jerry Holder has enrolled his property in a Safe Harbor program to benefit the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. (Photo: Melissa McGaw/NC Wildlife Resources Commission)

Managing land to sustain natural habitats can be complex and technically challenging.

Land management plans need to be tailored for each piece of property. For example, ranchers may want assistance to learn about the best techniques to restore native grasses and control cheat grass and other invasive species. Forest landowners may benefit from the latest research on how to regenerate native tree species such as red oaks and Atlantic white cedar. Landowners interested in restoring endangered species habitat may want advice on the best ways to do so.

CCI can help. Our team of experts work with individual landowners to sort through the various funding programs, offer technical assistance and tailor environmental solutions with economic benefits.

These case studies show good land management practices that have produced -- and are producing -- results while ensuring the landowner's bottom line.

Restoring longleaf pine using incentives

The longleaf pine ecosystem once covered some 74-92 million acres of the southern coastal plain from southern Virginia south to central Florida and west to eastern Texas. Longleaf is America's most biologically diverse temperate forest ecosystem and is home to over 20 federally-listed endangered species. Today, longleaf covers less than 3 million acres -- much of which is highly degraded. About 70 percent of the remaining longleaf pine forest is on private land.  (View our longleaf pine slide show.)

Conserving and restoring longleaf pine requires planting longleaf seedlings, restoring native ground cover, controlling hardwoods and invasive species, using prescribed fire, and selectively harvesting timber. This can entail substantial costs, and may require technical expertise the landowner does not have.

Incentives are already helping conserve and restore longleaf. About 180,000 acres of longleaf have been planted on former agricultural lands through the Conservation Reserve Program. Through Safe Harbor agreements, landowners are managing over 300,000 acres to benefit the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. See how tree farmer Jerry Holder is using these programs.

Grazing, active wetlands management help the rare bog turtle recover

In New England and the mid-Atlantic region, a decline in farming over the last 100 years has allowed many lands to return to dense forest. While increased forest cover benefits many species, others dependent on more open habitats are suffering. One such species is the bog turtle, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. America's smallest turtle lives in shallow, open wetlands often found on working farms. In the last 30 years, farms have disappeared, trees overgrew wetlands, and development reduced water quality and fragmented remaining habitat. Bog turtles have vanished from more than 50 percent of wetlands they once occupied.

Since over 90 percent of wetlands occupied by bog turtles are on private lands, the species' recovery depends upon landowners. Active wetland management is essential to prevent forest encroachment and the spread of invasive plants such as multiflora rose and purple loosestrife. It is an unusual conservation measure, but controlled grazing is one of the best ways to open up shaded wetlands and maintain their diverse native plant communities. Recovery also depends upon protecting habitat networks from urbanization. Find out how horse farmer Tina Bachman is helping the bog turtle.

Shortgrass prairie: Where the buffalo roamed

Shortgrass prairie once stretched from New Mexico to Canada in an almost continuous swath across the arid plains east of the Rocky Mountains. Found in areas of poor soil, shortgrass prairie is typified by ankle-high, warm-season grasses and scattered succulents. The prairies once rivaled the African Serengeti with roaming bison, pronghorn, and elk, and enormous prairie dog towns, creating a mosaic of heavily grazed areas and recovering grasslands.

Native grassland species in Colorado, such as burrowing owls, are benefitting from the Colorado Species Conservation Partnership (Photo: Copyright Bill Horn)

Less than 30 percent of intact, shortgrass prairie remains, and the fenced herds of domestic cattle that graze on what is left decrease the natural mosaic effect. Much of the animal life that characterizes the shortgrass ecosystem has declined alarmingly, partly because of the increasing uniformity of the remaining prairie. Continued grazing is essential to preserve remaining prairies, but landscape-scale management is needed to reinvigorate remaining habitats and diversify the conditions. Maintaining the economic viability of private lands operations is essential to prevent conversion of prairie to other uses.

With over 70 percent of remaining habitat in private hands, a comprehensive system of incentives and technical advice is essential to managing cattle in a way that enhances native biodiversity while maintaining ranch profitability. In particular, assistance in restoring native grasses, instituting rotational grazing and restoring prairie dogs would significantly advance the restoration of shortgrass prairie. See how a conservation partnership in Colorado is helping restore the prairies.

Protecting the Illinois River through CREP

Running some 270 miles from Joliet in northeastern Illinois and emptying into the Mississippi River some 40 miles above St. Louis, the Illinois River is vital to the state’s economic and environmental health. The river's watershed covers 44 percent of the state, or over 30,000 square miles, and was once characterized by extensive wetlands, backwater lakes and side channels that surrounded the river and its 12 main tributaries. Construction of dams and levees has destroyed many of those natural features. So, too, has sedimentation from agriculture and urbanization.

In 1998, the State of Illinois and the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched a Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) to provide $250 million in landowner incentives to help restore and conserve the Illinois River. The goals of the plan include reducing sedimentation by 20 percent, lowering nutrient loading by 10 percent, and increasing waterfowl and native fish populations. Under the CREP, landowners in the river's watershed can enroll lands adjacent to rivers and streams and receive payments for planting trees and grasses, restoring wetlands, installing filter strips, or other conservation activities. Contract periods are from 10-15 years, though willing landowners can receive bonus payments from the state for longer contract periods, including permanent conservation easements. Technical assistance is also provided in developing conservation plans.

Landowner response has been overwhelming. Over 106,000 acres are enrolled and the state has requested an increase on the cap on enrollment to 232,000 acres. Says one participating landowner, "CREP is not only good stewardship, but can be better financially than corn or soybeans."  The State of Illinois dedicated another $10 million of state funding to match $40 million federal dollars that will bring thousands of additional acres into the program.

Posted: 04-May-2006; Updated: 28-Sep-2009