Conservation
The mound of empty shotgun hulls at my feet was growing considerably fast-er than the pile of teal on the blind sill. It was mid-September in north-central Missouri, and blue-winged squadrons had been buzzing the blind all morning. I was trying hard not to embarrass myself too badly in front of my host, Marshall Murphy, and I never shoot very well when I try too hard.
Murphy's name may sound familiar; he is the son of well-known Kansas wingshooting instructor and purveyor of fine shotguns Michael Murphy (of Michael Murphy & Sons). Suffice to say this young fellow knows how to swing the barrels.
Murphy also knows a thing or two about land management. After earning his degree in forestry from Kansas State University, he went to work for a fascinating nonprofit organization in Missouri called The Land Learning Foundation. Serving as the foundation's executive director, Murphy oversees a diverse array of conservation and community programs. Whereas many sporting and conservation organizations focus almost exclusively on habitat, Land Learning seeks to share the wealth of wild places with young people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to enjoy them.
"This is one of the poorest counties in Missouri," Murphy said. "It boasts one of the highest rates of high school graduation in the state yet the lowest rate of college graduation." Since its recent founding, Land Learning has hosted more than 400 local children for camps, day seminars and other educational programs. The foundation works with schools in the region and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Missouri. One of the foundation's key purposes is to stimulate an appetite for learning in young people, especially learning about nature and land. This is a special challenge in a time when most people are two or three generations removed from farm life. Today many children-and adults-have virtually no knowledge of where their food comes from or why the land and its wild things should matter to human beings. Land Learning's programs cover such issues as pesticides, food safety, water quality, endangered species, hunting and wetlands. Additionally, the foundation hosts turkey and waterfowl hunts for single mothers and their children on its properties. Visitors stay in comfortable cabins on the foundation's grounds at Dean Lake, near Triplett, Missouri.
Of course you can take a child hunting only if you have a place to hunt. Consequently, habitat improvement is a major aspect of Land Learning's mission. The foundation's organizers are lifelong avid waterfowlers, and Land Learning's wetland restoration efforts are particularly noteworthy. On its own property as well as properties held by other local landowners, Land Learning has restored numerous bottomland marshes that were formerly farmed.
Last fall I visited Land Learning to learn more about the foundation's wetland work. Murphy was gracious enough to let me conduct my interviews in his favorite dove fields and teal marshes. Between passing flights of embarrassment, I picked his brain about how he turns drain-tiled beanfields back into bottomland marshes.
"First, you have to plug the drain," Murphy said. For generations, much of the Midwest's most productive agricultural land has been kept dry by a vast network of perforated piping. This is how most of North America's wetlands were lost in the first place. The infamous Swamp Land Act of 1849 and its reauthorizations in 1850 and 1860 gave ownership of wetlands to the states and encouraged wetland "reclamation," which in the needs and wisdom of the day meant draining and plowing. Between 1860 and 1880 more than 1,000 factories were built in the US to manufacture agricultural drainage piping. These pipes siphoned water off of low-lying fields and carried it to ditches that drained to streams and rivers. Thus dried, former wetlands could be farmed. This piping must now be disabled if a wetland is to become wet again.
"Next, you build a dike," Murphy said. And when he says dike, he doesn't mean a tall ridge of earth like you'd see in a flood-control project. The object is to create a marsh, not a lake. The dikes I saw on Murphy's projects were 18 to 24 inches tall at most. Shallow water encourages the growth of plants like annual smartweed and wild millet, both of which provide a rich source of food for dabbling ducks, including mallards, teal, gadwalls and pintails. The seeds of these wild plants have lain dormant in bottomland soils for generations waiting for a chance to grow. Like the proverbial science-class seed project, Murphy's wetlands flourish on their own when finally given the break they've been waiting for.
"Then you install control structures to regulate water depth," Murphy said. A wetland control structure is basically a shallow manhole with a plank weir inside. The weir maintains the water level in the wetland and allows overflows to escape via buried piping rather than topping and eroding the dike.
"Finally, depending on the size and scope of your project, you may need to pump in water from somewhere to fill the wetland," Murphy said. He showed me a large project site where he was pumping water from the Grand River to fill a new wetland. The Clean Water Act regulates all such diversions of river water for wetland projects, and Murphy had obtained a permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers for his undertaking.
What does all of this cost and how does one pay for it?
Wetland restoration can cost upward of $1,400 per acre. Some of Land Learning's work is funded by donations from corporate and individual donors who share the foundation's passion for wildlife and young people. The foundation is a registered nonprofit, and all donations are tax deductible. So far the foundation's corporate sponsors include Evans & Evans Outdoors (a local outfitter), Haydel's Game Calls, Cabin Country, the National Rifle Association, the Missouri Waterfowl Association, Freedom Steel Building Corporation and Safari Club International.
Most landowners, however, will not have a cadre of well-endowed donors at their disposal. In that case the US Dept. of Agriculture may "share the wealth." The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 authorized the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), which may be viewed as long-overdue penance for the Swamp Land Act. The WRP gives the Secretary of Agriculture authority to restore up to 250,000 acres of wetland habitat per year. These days "reclamation" of wetlands means taking them back from the plow.
Analogous to the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the WRP provides cost-sharing assistance to landowners who restore wetland habitat. Currently, almost 8,000 projects nationwide totaling nearly 1.5 million acres have been enrolled. So far the top 10 states for enrollment are Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, California, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma and New York. Habitat types vary from tidal marshes and flooded timber to prairie potholes. The bottom line is that if it's ducky, it might get Uncle Sam's money.
To deliver the goods on WRP projects, the USDA works through local offices of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), which in turn coordinates with organizations like Ducks Unlimited for technical guidance. Landowners wishing to restore formerly drained wetlands on their properties should consult first with DU or the local NRCS office.
Ultimately, wetland restoration-or any other habitat work-is not only about safeguarding the future of wildlife, but also about safeguarding our future as sportsmen and our role in the natural world. The Land Learning Foundation recognizes this, and its mission statement includes these stirring reflections: "It is the responsibility of every individual who hunts to take the hand of a child and lead them on the greatest adventure of their life. It is our responsibility to create for them quality experiences that teach important outdoor lessons that will serve that child throughout his or her life. And it is our responsibility to help build dreams that will continue to preserve the most wonderful traditions of all-hunting and the conservation of our natural resources."
That's about right, I think. Build dreams, and habitat will follow.
Author's Note: For more information, contact The Land Learning Foundation, 660-634-2240, www.landlearning.org. For information on the , call your local USDA Service Center or visit www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/WRP.
Murphy's name may sound familiar; he is the son of well-known Kansas wingshooting instructor and purveyor of fine shotguns Michael Murphy (of Michael Murphy & Sons). Suffice to say this young fellow knows how to swing the barrels.
Murphy also knows a thing or two about land management. After earning his degree in forestry from Kansas State University, he went to work for a fascinating nonprofit organization in Missouri called The Land Learning Foundation. Serving as the foundation's executive director, Murphy oversees a diverse array of conservation and community programs. Whereas many sporting and conservation organizations focus almost exclusively on habitat, Land Learning seeks to share the wealth of wild places with young people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to enjoy them.
"This is one of the poorest counties in Missouri," Murphy said. "It boasts one of the highest rates of high school graduation in the state yet the lowest rate of college graduation." Since its recent founding, Land Learning has hosted more than 400 local children for camps, day seminars and other educational programs. The foundation works with schools in the region and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Missouri. One of the foundation's key purposes is to stimulate an appetite for learning in young people, especially learning about nature and land. This is a special challenge in a time when most people are two or three generations removed from farm life. Today many children-and adults-have virtually no knowledge of where their food comes from or why the land and its wild things should matter to human beings. Land Learning's programs cover such issues as pesticides, food safety, water quality, endangered species, hunting and wetlands. Additionally, the foundation hosts turkey and waterfowl hunts for single mothers and their children on its properties. Visitors stay in comfortable cabins on the foundation's grounds at Dean Lake, near Triplett, Missouri.
Of course you can take a child hunting only if you have a place to hunt. Consequently, habitat improvement is a major aspect of Land Learning's mission. The foundation's organizers are lifelong avid waterfowlers, and Land Learning's wetland restoration efforts are particularly noteworthy. On its own property as well as properties held by other local landowners, Land Learning has restored numerous bottomland marshes that were formerly farmed.
Last fall I visited Land Learning to learn more about the foundation's wetland work. Murphy was gracious enough to let me conduct my interviews in his favorite dove fields and teal marshes. Between passing flights of embarrassment, I picked his brain about how he turns drain-tiled beanfields back into bottomland marshes.
"First, you have to plug the drain," Murphy said. For generations, much of the Midwest's most productive agricultural land has been kept dry by a vast network of perforated piping. This is how most of North America's wetlands were lost in the first place. The infamous Swamp Land Act of 1849 and its reauthorizations in 1850 and 1860 gave ownership of wetlands to the states and encouraged wetland "reclamation," which in the needs and wisdom of the day meant draining and plowing. Between 1860 and 1880 more than 1,000 factories were built in the US to manufacture agricultural drainage piping. These pipes siphoned water off of low-lying fields and carried it to ditches that drained to streams and rivers. Thus dried, former wetlands could be farmed. This piping must now be disabled if a wetland is to become wet again.
"Next, you build a dike," Murphy said. And when he says dike, he doesn't mean a tall ridge of earth like you'd see in a flood-control project. The object is to create a marsh, not a lake. The dikes I saw on Murphy's projects were 18 to 24 inches tall at most. Shallow water encourages the growth of plants like annual smartweed and wild millet, both of which provide a rich source of food for dabbling ducks, including mallards, teal, gadwalls and pintails. The seeds of these wild plants have lain dormant in bottomland soils for generations waiting for a chance to grow. Like the proverbial science-class seed project, Murphy's wetlands flourish on their own when finally given the break they've been waiting for.
"Then you install control structures to regulate water depth," Murphy said. A wetland control structure is basically a shallow manhole with a plank weir inside. The weir maintains the water level in the wetland and allows overflows to escape via buried piping rather than topping and eroding the dike.
"Finally, depending on the size and scope of your project, you may need to pump in water from somewhere to fill the wetland," Murphy said. He showed me a large project site where he was pumping water from the Grand River to fill a new wetland. The Clean Water Act regulates all such diversions of river water for wetland projects, and Murphy had obtained a permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers for his undertaking.
What does all of this cost and how does one pay for it?
Wetland restoration can cost upward of $1,400 per acre. Some of Land Learning's work is funded by donations from corporate and individual donors who share the foundation's passion for wildlife and young people. The foundation is a registered nonprofit, and all donations are tax deductible. So far the foundation's corporate sponsors include Evans & Evans Outdoors (a local outfitter), Haydel's Game Calls, Cabin Country, the National Rifle Association, the Missouri Waterfowl Association, Freedom Steel Building Corporation and Safari Club International.
Most landowners, however, will not have a cadre of well-endowed donors at their disposal. In that case the US Dept. of Agriculture may "share the wealth." The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 authorized the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), which may be viewed as long-overdue penance for the Swamp Land Act. The WRP gives the Secretary of Agriculture authority to restore up to 250,000 acres of wetland habitat per year. These days "reclamation" of wetlands means taking them back from the plow.
Analogous to the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the WRP provides cost-sharing assistance to landowners who restore wetland habitat. Currently, almost 8,000 projects nationwide totaling nearly 1.5 million acres have been enrolled. So far the top 10 states for enrollment are Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, California, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma and New York. Habitat types vary from tidal marshes and flooded timber to prairie potholes. The bottom line is that if it's ducky, it might get Uncle Sam's money.
To deliver the goods on WRP projects, the USDA works through local offices of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), which in turn coordinates with organizations like Ducks Unlimited for technical guidance. Landowners wishing to restore formerly drained wetlands on their properties should consult first with DU or the local NRCS office.
Ultimately, wetland restoration-or any other habitat work-is not only about safeguarding the future of wildlife, but also about safeguarding our future as sportsmen and our role in the natural world. The Land Learning Foundation recognizes this, and its mission statement includes these stirring reflections: "It is the responsibility of every individual who hunts to take the hand of a child and lead them on the greatest adventure of their life. It is our responsibility to create for them quality experiences that teach important outdoor lessons that will serve that child throughout his or her life. And it is our responsibility to help build dreams that will continue to preserve the most wonderful traditions of all-hunting and the conservation of our natural resources."
That's about right, I think. Build dreams, and habitat will follow.
Author's Note: For more information, contact The Land Learning Foundation, 660-634-2240, www.landlearning.org. For information on the , call your local USDA Service Center or visit www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/WRP.
- By: Chad Mason
