NWTF Operation Oak

I just recieved the following from Kent Adams at the National Wild Turkey Federation and am sharing it with you.

October 30, 2009

Subject:  NWTF Operation Oak Private Landowner Program 2009-10

Dear Landowner and NWTF Member:

The National Wild Turkey Federation is very proud to announce the continued expansion of its Operation Oak Program.  A partnership between the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the Southwest Illinois Rural Conservation and Development Office, and the National Wild Turkey Federation’s Illinois State Chapter has made select oak seedlings available FREE to private landowners in Illinois.  These native seedlings are grown locally at the state nurseries of the IL Department of Natural Resources, resulting in a more adaptive seedling with a higher survival rate along with higher growth potential.

Private landowners interested in participating in the FREE program must complete the attached application form with required fields:  County/Parish, Township, Range, Section (information can be obtained in a County Platt Book available at most Soil and Water Conservation District Offices), Landowner Name, Landowner Address, Phone, Number of Seedlings Requested.  This information is collected for the purpose of Illinois Habitat Fund grant reporting and is required for participation.  NWTF staff will review all applications and provide seedlings to as many interested landowners as possible on a first-come/first-serve basis.  Some species may be substituted if your requested species are no longer available.  These seedlings should NOT be used for tree plantings that are already receiving cost share through CRP or other programs.  However, they may be used to fill-in existing CRP tree plantings.

Seedlings are expected to be available in late March or early April.  Participants will be informed of specific pick-up locations and dates when all orders have been compiled.

We hope you will be able to participate in our tree-planting program this year and provide long-term habitat for wild turkeys and other wildlife.  If you are interested in receiving FREE seedlings, you must complete the attached application form and mail, e-mail, or fax it back to the attention of:

    Jean S. Plunkett
    Operation Oak
    PO Box 530
    Edgefield, SC 29824
   
    Fax:  (803) 637-9180

APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED IN EDGEFIELD ON, OR BEFORE, FEB. 1, 2010.

If you have any questions about the program, please call Jean Plunkett at 803-637-7528, or 800-637-3106 Ext. 7528. If you are not already a member of NWTF, please consider joining at NWTF.org, or by calling 1-800-THE-NWTF, and help support our habitat conservation efforts!
 
          Best regards,

          Kent Adams
          Regional Wildlife Biologist
          National Wild Turkey Federation

          14560 N. Amber Lane
          Effingham, IL 62401
          Office Phone: 217-690-4950
          Mobile Phone: 717-319-5575
         

          NWTF.org

Pecatonica River Tree Planting

Along the banks of the Pecatonica River on the east side of Freeport are forty-four acres, some of it flood plain that James and Mickey Jewell decided to purchase as a place to live with a house elevated above the river, woodlands, and cropland in the flood plain. Their vision for the land included restoring it to a natural area and eventually sharing it in some way with others.

They learned something of the history of the property, the many years of flood damaged crops, and reports of an Indian settlement located there. In 1904 they began restoring the hardwood forest that had originally been located on the flood plain by planting 5,000 seedlings along the river. Such a planting, a riparian buffer, would be effective at reducing non-point pollution of the river.  In addition to providing valuable wildlife habitat.

Rains and flooding came two weeks after the 5,000 tree seedlings were planted. The floodwaters stayed in the field of new trees for two weeks. The Jewells were certain they had lost all of the seedlings. After they had surveyed the apparent loss, they called Jim Ritterbusch, Stephenson County NRCS District Conservationist, who had helped them place these eighteen acres in the Riparian Buffer option of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

When he walked the area, he saw that all was not lost. Not only did most of the seedlings survive the flooding but he pointed out another 60,000 trees. The timing of the flood and seeds dropping from area trees produced seedlings naturally.  This is a process called natural regeneration. 

The Illinois Buffer Partnership cosponsored the riparian buffer planting initiated by the Jewells with coordination from Trees Forever. This non-profit organization that now has headquarters in Iowa was founded in 1989 by two volunteers. Trees Forever has planted 2.5 million trees in communities, on farms, along roads, streams, and rivers in Illinois and Iowa. Trees Forever is taking applications for conservation buffer sites. Find out more at http://www.treesforever.org.

The Jewells also planted some hardwoods with stock from Forrest Keeling Nursery in Elsberry, Missouri known as RPM trees. A patented natural process, Root Production Method, is used by the Nursery to grow trees to maturity faster creating a root biomass as much as 18 times greater than trees grown using traditional methods. http://www.fknursery.com

If the trees are to continue to be effective as buffers, they must be managed and maintained. A recent woodland tour of the newly forested acres shows that the Jewells are truly caring for their crop of trees. Management includes weed control, replanting and reseeding, pruning and thinning. And picking up the trash carried downstream by the river and left on their property – less this year, but still 8 large bags full, two tires, and one wheel.

Pheasants Forever partnered with the Jewells in restoring a natural area by helping them with establishment of native prairie grasses.

Adapted from an article by Della Moen, Earth Team Volunteer, NRCS/Stephenson Soil and Water Conservation District

USDA Initiative for Mississippi River Basin Announced

Ag Secretary Vilsack Announces Major Initiative to Improve Health of Mississippi River Basin

$320 Million Available for Conservation Projects in Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced a new initiative to improve water quality and the overall health of the Mississippi River Basin in taped remarks to the Gulf Hypoxia Task Force Meeting in Des Moines, Iowa.  The Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI) will provide approximately $320 million over the next four years for voluntary projects in priority watersheds located in Illinois and 11 other key states. Participation in this initiative, which will be managed by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), will be made available through a competitive process for potential partners at the local, State and national levels. 

“The Obama Administration is committed to taking bold steps with our State and local partners to clean up the entire Mississippi River Basin, a critical natural resource that provides drinking water for tens of millions of Americans,” said Vilsack.  “Industrial, municipal, residential, and agricultural sources have all contributed pollutants to the waters of the Mississippi River Basin, and the MRBI will provide resources that will help us come together to address this issue.”

Secretary Vilsack’s announcement can be viewed online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rwi5rJ3eNE

The natural capacity of the Mississippi River Basin to remove nutrients has been diminished by a range of human activities over the years, including modification of floodplains for agricultural and urban land.  MRBI will help agricultural producers implement conservation and management practices that avoid, control, and trap nutrient runoff.  The initiative is performance oriented, which means that measurable conservation results are required in order to participate. By focusing on priority watersheds in these 12 states in the basin, USDA, its partner organizations, State and local agencies, and agricultural producers will coordinate their resources in areas requiring the most immediate attention and offer the best return on the funds invested. 

“USDA is going to partner with farmers to implement a range of land stewardship practices, including conservation tillage, nutrient management, and other innovative practices,” said Dave White, Chief of NRCS.  “We all live downstream of other water users and this initiative will help make the Mississippi River Basin and the Mississippi River and its tributaries healthier for everyone.”

In addition to other federal, State, and partner funding, NRCS is targeting $80 million annually over the next four years through Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative, Conservation Innovation Grants, and the Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program.  This is in addition to other NRCS program funding and assistance such as Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, and the Conservation Stewardship Program.  These funds will be available for projects in Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

“NRCS in Illinois is very excited about this new initiative,” said Illinois’ State Conservationist Bill Gradle. “MRBI will improve conservation of natural resources in Illinois and we believe it will also help us expand our conservation partnerships so together we can make even more progress on conservation issues moving forward.” 

MRBI will focus on 8-digit or smaller hydrologic units (watersheds) that contribute high loads of nutrients in the Mississippi River Basin. Priority watersheds for the initiative will be identified by NRCS in consultation with conservation partner organizations and State Technical Committees.  Watersheds will be selected using an evaluation process that will include information from the Conservation Effects Assessment Project, the USGS Spatially Referenced Regression on Watersheds Attributes, state-level nutrient reduction strategies and priorities, and available monitoring and modeling of nitrogen and phosphorus levels in the Basin.  Using this watershed evaluation process will ensure water quality and nutrient issues are improving as part of MRBI.

The Mississippi River Basin is a critical ecosystem to the United States.  Its entire land mass, totaling 41 percent of the contiguous United States and 15 percent of North America, drains into the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.

The Mississippi River runs 2,350 miles from its headwaters at Lake Itasca, Minnesota, to the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico and carries an average of 436,000 tons of sediment each day.  It takes about 90 days for water to travel from the headwaters in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico where water is discharged at an average rate of 600,000 cubic feet per second. 

Assessment of the progress in implementing MRBI will be critical, as will evaluation of outcomes at the field scale/edge-of-field and on the watershed basis.  Successful measures of the initiative will include a reduced nutrient footprint and environmental impact through more efficient use of nutrients for crop production in the priority watersheds. 

For information about the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative, including eligibility requirements, please visit http://www.nrcs.usda.gov or your USDA Service Center.