The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has announced the Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative to "improve habitat conditions for migratory birds likely to be impacted by the conditions in the Gulf of Mexico." NRCS has launched this Initiative in response to concerns over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and its adverse effects on "marshes and coastal lands used by shorebirds, waterfowl, and other birds that will soon be traveling south on their annual migration south."
The Initiative will pay to use "up to 150,000 acres of land to provide feeding, loafing, and resting areas for migratory birds." Landowners "would be expected to flood fields and promote the growth of vegetation favored by migratory birds, or to enhance existing wetlands on their property for three to five years," as reported by the LA Times.
Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation for the National Audubon Society, said that about 1 billion birds from over 300 species migrate through the gulf region every year, making this area one of the world's "major migratory flyways."
The program applies "mainly to former wetlands and low-lying land in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas."
For more information on the Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative, click here.
To read the LA Times story, click here.
To read the Southeast AgNet story, click here.
Posted: 07/1/2010
