 As it flows through the nation's heartland, the Mississippi River touches the lives of many people, both in cities and in rural areas. This father of rivers drains all or part of 31 states, with headwaters reaching to Canada. The Delta region of the Mississippi begins at the southern tip of Illinois. It then continues to the Gulf of Mexico, covering a good portion of the states along the way. Wintertime on the Delta is often a season of drenching rain. This area was originally North America's largest rainforest. The Mississippi would deposit a layer of sediment every year, as it pulsed beyond its banks. The fertile soil gave rise to great forests of oak, ash, cypress and other species. Within this long strip of woodlands, many species of wildlife could coexist and thrive. From a landscape perspective, the lower Mississippi Valley starts at Cairo, Illinois, goes to the Gulf of Mexico. It is approximately 21 million acres of historically bottomland hardwood forest. Now it's only about 4 million acres of that land left, and most of those forest lands would be considered wetlands. When the Europeans first settled this country, that continuous forest harbored a number of wildlife species, such as bear, cougar, deer, turkey, passenger pigeon, ivybiel, woodpecker. The alluvial flood plain that made this valley through the formation of sediments, deposition of sediments. Meandering back and forth from hill to hill, from Arkansas, Louisiana hills, over to the Lurshal Bluff Hills of Mississippi, was an extreme complexity of streams that deposited sediments over historical time, and was a valley, is a valley, of very rich soils. And therefore, the agricultural interest, once discovering this piece of land, moved in very slowly over the next 200 years and began to settle this area. Starting from the Gulf and going north, the whole Delta system is geologically young. It started since the last ice age. The river brought the sediments downstream, and as the sea level began to rise, as the ice cap began to melt, it formed our marshes. A very important intertidal zone, or zone of transition between the uplands and the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. You know, the Mississippi River has been modified because it is a truly important waterway for the continental United States. A tremendous amount of interstate commerce up and down the river, and it has been levied for navigation and flood control. And there are some people who say, tear down the levees and let the river have its way with the land. Obviously, we can't do that. We've got to think of people. We've got to think of the resources that's there that we need to have as a people. But having looked at that, then what's the next best thing that we can do is to treat the resource needs of the land, and also affect the river in a positive way. Native Americans farm the rich land, leaving a footprint upon the landscape and on the original vegetation. At Poverty Point in Louisiana, mounds and ridges mark these early settlements. The first evidence we have really of prehistoric people in the area is really by some of the projectile points we're finding in the area, which is known as Clovis Points. Clovis Points would date back to about 11,000 to 11,500 years ago. Agriculture really coming into use somewhere around 1,000 AD, and by historic contact times agriculture was of course widespread, bow and arrow used, and well-made pottery. And populations were fairly dense in most regions in the Delta area. Most of the native vegetation in the Delta has been cleared for agriculture over the last couple of hundred years. It's not that we've just done it as the Europeans have moved in here, though that clearing took place long before the Europeans came into the lower Mississippi Valley. But it was done extensively and has been really cleared a whole lot more of late. There are still a number of really great remnants of the natural vegetation around within the bachelor itself, which is inside the levees close to the river. You see the riverfront hardwoods, the willow cottonwood areas, the sugar marine, that sort of thing. As late as 1900, much of the Delta's forest remained intact. Most of the cleared farmland was confined to the well-drained upland areas. Looking at the same region in the early 1980s shows that this is no longer the case. The solid blocks of forest have mostly been cleared for agriculture, even in the once flooded bottomlands. The 20th century brought great progress in flood control through levees and dams along the Mississippi. Once the flood water was held back, the land could be farmed. However, that land had now lost a critical source of fertility. The major change that have occurred has been the almost total elimination of the natural systems functioning from this deposition, a great deposition of alluvium. So this slow inundation of this major flood plain and then the movement of the water out into the river system itself caused this great exchange of nutrients, sediments, which re-fertilized basically. As we look at it now, it was an exchange of fertility through the natural organic materials and organic sediments here. So all of this provided for a tremendously rich ecosystem historically and even now to a large degree. But the effect on the basic elements of land, forest and aquatic systems has been dramatic over the time that has been cleared. Bottomlands were then cleared at an increased rate and the forests rapidly disintegrated. Commodity prices were high and land was in great demand. New mechanical farming methods allowed for incredible efficiencies in production. Between 1950 and 1970 approximately 11 million acres of bottomland hardwood forest was moved. And of course part of that was related to the soybean years as we call it, the high price of soybeans. It was an economic movement to increase production. Everybody agreed it was a good thing to do. And I think that now we see and many farmers will tell you that some of the lands that were cleared at that time probably should not have been cleared. Sarbeans were such a big demand, price was high, a lot of this marginal land was cleared up and right now the table has turned. Beans are low, the marginal land is not as productive so they are taking advantage of opportunities to restore that land back. Indeed there was a price to be paid by so radically altering the hydrology the natural flow of nutrients into the soil was cut off. Resonant fish populations also suffered from the increasingly sediment laden waters and blocked migration routes. The re-plumbing of the region through the dams and through the levee systems made dramatic difference in the aquatic systems here. From an ecological perspective it's very important that that flooding can maintain its historical periodicity. In other words you want to be sure even though flooding can occur at any time of the year that flooding is most important when it occurs during the winter and spring because that's when the aquatic invertebrates have access to most of the organic material that was derived from the vegetation on the terrestrial component of that system. Those aquatic invertebrates in turn become a primary food source for a lot of fishes that move from the main channel of the river onto the flood plain and whenever we keep the flood waters off of the flood plain obviously the productive potential from that organic material is just not available to the fishery that would be associated with that ecosystem. Many of the native and migratory species that depended upon the forested wetlands and backwater areas disappeared. Important fishery resources dwindled as habitat was dredged or dammed. There are certain fishes in these systems that do not do very well when you change the hydrology of the system. For example, if you're dealing with flood control that incorporates the two dimensions of say an upstream system of dams and a downstream system of dredging or channelization. Fishes that would normally move upstream for spawning purposes if they don't have a way to get around those dams and here in Mississippi they don't. Those dams cut off the migration of fishes and another thing that we need to bear in mind is that fish that once were very important commercial species in the lower Mississippi river ecosystem such as the blue sucker now are becoming more and more rare. Although we still find them, we find that they're not in the abundance that they once were and in fact if you dredge a river our research has shown that you have declines in the abundance of blue sucker but you increase the abundance of exotic fishes such as the common carp. As the channel of the Mississippi meandered it created several oxbow lakes. Now that the levee system had separated these lakes from the flooding river they too have become altered. These oxbow lakes are indigenous to river systems here in the delta and these lakes are cut off from the Mississippi river now. At one time during the normal flood regime these lakes were replenished but now these lakes are cut off and typically there are no drainages that are associated with them or very few drainages that are associated with these oxbow lakes. Several things can be done to restore fishery populations in these oxbow lakes here in the delta. We want to pay particular attention to landscapes and watersheds that surround these lakes because what happens on the land eventually affects what happens in these oxbow lakes. Farming practices have a big role in this. Not only do farming practices play a big role but municipal drainage systems and sewage systems play a big role in this. We want to pay particular attention to conservation practices such as grassed waterways, vegetative filter strips, riparian buffers because if we can treat the non-point source pollution that flows off the land before it makes it to the lake then we have a very good chance of increasing or conserving water quality in these oxbow lakes. Loss of habitat wasn't limited to aquatic species. Large mammals and migratory birds depended upon the contiguous forest. Some of those areas are now being reforested in hopes of reconnecting the fragments. In Mississippi the black bear is now an endangered species list. Historically they were found throughout Mississippi in great abundance if you read the old accounts from people who first moved to Mississippi but of course agriculture moved in, people cleared forestry practices all those things led to the clearing of the land which is part of the reason that we lost the black bear population. Having habitats that connect are very important in Mississippi especially in the delta as we've said because we don't have that as large contiguous areas having those small what we call corridors even very small areas that connect one large patch of woods to another is extremely important because these bears can be up to 400 pounds so they need a lot of food so they do have to move around quite a bit to find enough food to get through the year and so they need to have access from one area to another since we don't have those vast thousands and thousands of acres as they do in the western part of the U.S. Connecting these remnants is really critical. One is for the movement of a number of wildlife species for birds along the riparian quarters and that sort of thing but it's also important as vegetation will move along that thing it's carried by the water courses it'll be dropped out with overbanked flooding and hopefully through the connectivity if you happen to have something say like pond berry which is an endangered plant in the area some of that may get picked up and moved through a connecting corridor and dropped out someplace else and keep that restoration moving and start to get the whole system in there. Tensile River National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1980 to protect some of the largest block of bottomland hardwoods left in the area. Tensile River is a 66,000 acre block of bottomland hardwood forest and it really is sitting in a sea of agriculture so we're trying to connect Tensile River with refuges to the north and also to the south we're trying to establish a connectivity via reforestation working closely with USDA, WRP programs, CRP programs and on-site refuge reforestation we're trying to establish corridors along the delta all the way to the south and also, like I said, to the north to Arkansas Neotropical songbirds also would benefit from reforestation not just the Louisiana black bear when these birds migrate down they will have a stop-off point and a resting point to continue their migration south. Socially, the progressive farming methods left many workers behind a mechanical harvester could now do the work of hundreds of field hands The future of this valley is going to be dependent upon how we address the problems both culturally, socially as we look at it from a society and as we relate as a society to the resources the problem I'm referring to primarily is the dramatic cultural change that took place through technology development post-World War II where the economy was based agricultural economy was based primarily up on hand labor and now we have machines to do that work Someone said that a four-row cotton picker now they make six-row cotton pickers but a four-row cotton picker replaced about 500 people one picker did about what 500 people could do 50 years ago So you can see if that's even close to accurate what a tremendous difference that that has made in the number of people that work on a farm Our new century finds this manipulated landscape in a state of change Many producers have found ways to balance ecological considerations with production concerns Some have found that the economics of conservation can help the farm's bottom line New developments in tillage and integrated pest management can further help to attain that balance I think the biggest change that I've seen is less tillage more water conservation more recycling of things that we use on the place we've been recycling those kinds of things as opposed to just burying them or burning them or discarding them in other fashions but I think the biggest thing I've seen is more conservation of what we have here There was a time when it was farmed from ditch bank to ditch bank and that was just the way you did it to be able to manage your pest to be able to manage the weeds now with technology we're able to manage the pest with fewer amounts of pesticides and herbicides and so that leaves us other options to be able to control some of the pests that are associated with those buffers Now the other reason is to control erosion the Mississippi Delta is rolling it's not just completely flat and we have over 50 inches of rain in a year and so if you till the soil and leave it completely exposed to mother nature then you're going to have some topsoil just simply wash away not only does it pollute our rivers and streams but in addition to that it takes away the productivity of the soil it strips it away The reduced tillage that we have seen in the last 7 or 8 years we think is allowing less soil erosion and I don't think there's any question about it that you're seeing the benefits of that in this river here we can use less high horse power tractors less tillage, less labor less economic expenditures to keep these implements going so I think the reduced tillage has a lot of benefits not only for the environment but for us in our bottom line We found the hard way that our sandy soil especially the organic matter had gotten so low by continuously farming over the last many years that we couldn't use certain chemicals because it was not enough organic matter in the soil to counteract the effects of the chemicals so we had to increase the organic matter We began a no-till program and basically out of all our farm no-till or minimum till over the entire effect What we have found in conservation tillage systems just as the physical nature of the soil and fertility has changed the soil biotic structure has changed as well both just below the soil and at the soil-plant interface many, not only pest species are being increased in their diversity but we're also increasing the density and abundance of non-pest species An example of one of these insects is red-imported fire ant that's a common pest in many lawns in Louisiana This is an extremely effective predator of a number of pest species in areas where there is a lack of disturbance In other words, by reducing tillage we increase the abundance of this so-called pest which in row crop areas turns out to be a beneficial In the early 80's to mid 80's we had an economic crisis and we're cutting back on a lot of inputs and oddly enough, no-till strategies started to be looked at impressive by a number of trips and so forth and we really started exploring what else is out there in the environment that we consider as a resource We have production resources, borrowing money buying equipment and that kind of thing but what's existing in our farm area that could be a benefit to us and we're trying not only to address the preservation of the land and the water and those issues that are so important to society but what does it do for the long haul of this farm and our family and what is it that we're going to leave to them and so the health of the property is more complex than we had ever dreamed before 15 years ago So as a result, we have a number of things that have happened on the place that I find not only a treat to see the return of wildlife but also our productivity as a farm operation and also the productivity of the land in preserving that What do we do to hold the nutrients and pesticides on the land with producers with private landowners who's farming the land to make a living The priority then becomes treating the land in a total resource management way It's not just enough to leave residue on the land we've got to maintain or manage the riparian areas those areas that are receiving waters from those fields Growers and myself, I think we have a new responsibility that's been brought to our attention through legislation but also society needs that we are part of a greater idea part of a greater watershed part of this country so my efforts here on our property do impact other people and the environment and water quality and those issues so I don't think we can see ourselves as an isolated entity any longer we have a bigger responsibility at large You've got to address on-farm problems with producers that's trying to make a living there They've got to make the decisions that fit their pocketbook and at the same time fit the resource needs but if you don't have a vision from a broader watershed or a basin approach then we don't know what this puzzle is going to look like But it goes hand in hand with production It's better, you've got the equipment now You've got the chemicals that you can do minimum till and when you do minimum till you do the grass waterways and do the equip program You're going to have your farms going to react naturally You're going to find it's a lot easier farming There's a different type of farming You're going to have to farm ugly My father still hasn't gotten used to that idea Ecological restoration can also create new business enterprises in the Delta Growing the seedlings required for reforestation is a labor-intensive process Tree nurseries provide opportunity for the area's labor force Outdoor recreation also creates economic opportunities The purpose of this nursery is actually threefold One was to produce a high quality native bottomland hardwood seedling for reforestation purposes The second purpose was for education for our local schools Children's on wetland issues and wetland education and other environmental education issues And also the purpose of the nursery was to serve as a training facility for local landowners who would be interested in starting their own private hardwood seedling nurseries We have worked with five different landowners to help them develop their own seedling nurseries here in the area Seedling nurseries are very labor-intensive During harvest and planting time several people are needed to work in the nursery to harvest the seedlings It has really worked well for us in that our busy times of the year are December, January, February, the winter months And that's normally when most of the farmer's employees are laid off The common bottomland hardwood species that we're raising primarily oaks We're looking at nut all oak, water oak We're looking at cypress, green ash native sweet pecan Hackberry or sugarberry Sweet gum That's the primary species that are going back into the reforestation efforts Recreation is a growing thing right now It's big business and this is an opportunity for landowners to diversify the site One thing we stress in Madison is that wildlife and cropland can work together We strive to save the soil We strive to improve water quality and we know that wildlife is something that we have to provide habitat for In the past the rivers have in many people's minds been perceived of as a threat or at least a nuisance And now people are beginning to understand that we can live with those rivers We can encourage people to come and enjoy those rivers There are economic opportunities tourism opportunities particularly where people are looking to connect with the culture of the deep south And to be able to go on one of these old rivers is to link up again with the rhythms of the earth to experience something that is almost ancient in terms of its functioning on a landscape level 90% of the delta hardwoods for instance have disappeared With that the potential for a diversified economy has disappeared This is primarily a row crop agricultural economy all the way up and down the lower Mississippi Valley If we can bring some of the connectivity back in the wetland ecosystems and the ecology of the backswamp wetlands like we once had we'd have the connectivity of habitat we'd have a lumber industry we'd have an outdoor recreational industry of hunting and fishing bird watching all those kinds of things that have all of a sudden become really important to a lot of the American public New partnerships are being formed around the common goal of helping the land Through these and other efforts a new picture is emerging of the Mississippi delta landscape We have a multi-agency work plan where we use each other find out just exactly what other agencies may have to assist the landowner because when I go out to the landowner I don't look at the farm to see just exactly what we as NRCS could do to help him but what resources are available to help this landowner to improve his whole operation We want to do that in a holistic way and Saul Water Conservation Districts are in existence from the Gulf all the way to the Canadian border and it behooves us to look beyond those political boundaries state boundaries, county boundaries, parish boundaries and really look at the boundaries of nature itself and work within the context of that knowing that we've got to work with thousands of private landowners to make the right decisions on all those little pieces of the puzzle of a much greater vision Landowners hold the key to the conservation of this landscape by keeping them connected with the land and empowered to make good decisions the Delta's function can be improved I love what I do that's not to say there aren't challenges on all sides but there is just something fundamentally great about growing something and watching it happen there's a magic about it and I don't know how to easily explain it but there's so many other things that are contributing to that magic that I find very impressive and I want to be involved with and that's what encourages me every day to look at there's always a new set of experiences there's also the history that you can draw upon what has come before you in the future it's a real hopeful experience that even in the roughest of times there's always this renew, this rebirth that can happen and I find it just such a unique quality and being outdoors is even better so I hope to remain in that some capacity and have a viable and profitable farm there's no doubt about it I've got to find a balance between the farm resources and production resources and at the end of the day hopefully have not left a big footstep on the landscape how do I juggle being productive as a producer with wildlife management and quite frankly I don't see it as a problem at all sometimes what would have been viewed in the past as the best farming practices weren't necessarily the most economical now that we have new technologies to help control some of the weeds that native species that we allow to grow in our filter strips and in our border areas if they get out in the field they're not the problem that they were 10 or 15 years ago so you spend less time and you spend less money worrying about cleaning them we're able to do some things that can change that habitat and provide an opportunity for different species to come back to do well on our farms and that gives us all a great deal of pleasure the Mississippi connects life across a vast area of our nation as the river flows on so do good conservation practices from one generation to the next from one person to the next in the last 15 years we've seen a dramatic increase in the expression of values associated with the rivers here in Mississippi when I first came on board as a member of the faculty at Mississippi State University I felt like I was very alone and whenever there were issues associated with conservation of rivers and their fisheries there were just a few people that I could count on to stand with me or at least I felt that way but with time it's been very heartening to see that people are stepping forward and saying yes our rivers do count and I think what we're seeing is leaders in all of the communities in all of the states that make up this part of the lower Mississippi Valley coming together and saying we do need to do a better job here and to me that is rewarding because we see them recognize the fact that we do need to improve for the next generation we do need to look at this thing as a landscape and how we may go about advising and offering the kind of technical assistance that not only this agency NRCS but other agencies may offer and how we can work as partners and how we can work and put the farmer in the leadership role of making those right decisions out here In just the last few years WRP programs and those kinds of restoration programs we're seeing that habitat come back that is so important to being able to restore black bear populations so there's a lot of changes habitat changes as well as attitude changes that are extremely important to bring back the bear The power of these rivers is incredible and they will prevail we tend to think in terms of human time but not in terms of river time and if we'll work with those rivers and enjoy the resources that they have and the wonderful influence that they can have over the entire landscape not only in terms of just fisheries but the aesthetic components the backwater areas the bottom land hardwood forest and all the interactive components of those rivers I think we come out the winters in the long run and we will be able to pass along a fabulous heritage to future generations