Our Liviiit; Rt'soiiive.s — Terrestrial Ecosvsler 



217 



many of their original functions (Mitsch and 

 Gosselink 1993). Also, alterations in hydrology 

 and poor timber management practices have 

 resulted in a degraded condition of many of the 

 remaining forests (Alig et al. 1986). 



Turner et al. (1988) reported annual loss 

 rates of 3.1% for forested wetlands in Arkansas, 

 0.9% for Louisiana, and 0.5% for Mississippi 

 from 1960 to 1975. Recent U.S. Forest Service 

 inventories indicate continued annual loss rates 

 of 0.7% and 1 .0% for the oak-gum-cypress for- 

 est type in the Louisiana and Mississippi por- 

 tions of the LMRAF (May and Bertelson 1986; 

 Kelly and Sims 1989; Vissage et al. 1992). 



Causes of Loss 



Since colonial times, wetlands have been 

 regarded as a menace and a hindrance to land 

 development: wastelands that were valuable 

 only if drained. During the mid- 19th century. 

 Congress passed the Swamp Lands Acts of 

 1849. 1850, and 1860, granting swamp and 

 periodically flooded bottomlands to the states. 

 Five southern states received 16.7 million ha 

 (41.3 milHon acres) for draining. By 1960, over 

 40 million ha (98 million acres) of former wet- 

 land area in the United States were under 

 drainage (Turner et al. 1988). Most wetlands 

 were drained for conversion to agriculture; such 

 conversions account for 87% of our national 

 wetland losses. 



Large-scale federal navigation, flood-con- 

 trol, and drainage projects have played a large 

 role in these conversions by making previously 

 flood-prone lands dry enough for planting crops 

 (USDI 1988). Other losses have resulted from 

 construction of flood-control structures and 

 reservoirs, mining and petroleum extraction, 

 and urban development. A 40% increase in the 

 population of the South between 1960 and 1980 

 (Alig et al. 1986) has accelerated wetland 

 losses. 



Future Prospects 



A significant future threat is global climate 

 change; in particular, sea-level rise represents a 

 direct threat to thousands of hectares of coastal 

 wetlands (Titus et al. 1984). Although the main 

 effects of sea-level rise would be seen in coastal 

 marshes, extensive areas of bottomland hard- 

 wood and swamp forest in Florida and 

 Louisiana could be affected by increased flood- 

 ing and saltwater intrusion (Titus et al. 1984; 

 Pezeshki et al. 1987; Conner and Brody 1989). 



Legislation such as the Clean Water Act and 

 the "Swampbuster" provision of the 1985 

 Public Law 100-233 "Farm Bill" has slowed, 

 but not completely prevented, the loss of forest- 

 ed wetlands. In the future, however, the amount 



of new losses of forested wetlands may be of 

 less concern than the fragmentation and degra- 

 dation of the few remaining large wetland areas. 



While the amount of forested wetlands in the 

 South is expected to continue declining, there 

 are good prospects for restoration in some 

 areas. Recognition of the scale and effects of 

 bottomland hardwood los.ses has resulted in 

 interest in restoration techniques. Serious 

 restoration began in the mid-1980"s, when state 

 and federal agencies began reforesting fomier 

 agricultural lands (Haynes and Moore 1988; 

 Savage et al. 1989; Newling 1990). The pace of 

 reforestation picked up rapidly following the 

 establishment of the Conservation Reserve 

 Program (CRP) and later the Wetland Reserve 

 Program, two federal agricultural programs that 

 provide payment to private landowners who 

 plant trees on a portion of their land. The com- 

 bined efforts of the agencies and these two agri- 

 cultural programs have resulted in the planting 

 of about 65.000 ha (160,615 acres) of bottom- 

 land hardwood forests in the southern United 

 States since 1985. Most restoration has 

 occurred in the LMRAF. 



Prospects for a similar rate of reforestation 

 over the coming decade appear excellent. 

 Federal and state natural resource agencies con- 

 tinue to reforest their lands. In addition, they 

 have become heavily involved in promoting 

 reforestation on private lands through initiatives 

 such as the Wetland Reserve Program, the U.S. 

 Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners for Wildlife 

 Program, and the North American Waterfowl 

 Management Plan. 



Partnerships are being sought between the 

 forest industry, individual landowners, universi- 

 ties, and several state and federal agencies. 

 Examples of such partnerships include Scott 

 Paper Company's enrollment of 27.500 ha 

 (67,952 acres) near Mobile, Alabama, in the 

 Gulf Coast Joint Venture of the North American 

 Waterfowl Management Plan, and a reforesta- 

 tion research project being initiated in west-cen- 

 tral Mississippi that involves International 

 Paper Company, the National Council of the 

 Pulp and Paper Industry for Air and Stream 

 Improvement, six federal agencies, and two uni- 

 versities. 



Although there is growing concern that many 

 reforestation projects have not been fully suc- 

 cessful, it is clear that when properly done, refor- 

 estation can yield impressive results in the 

 LMRAF region (Allen 1990). The technical fea- 

 sibility of reforestation, along with the current 

 environment of federal, state, and private coop- 

 eration in much of the region, suggests that the 

 LMRAF may be one of the best areas of the 

 country to seriously attempt a net gain of wet- 

 lands. 



Fig. 2. Distribution of forested 

 wetlands along the Lower 

 Mississippi River: (a) Precolonial 

 extent based on Putnam et al. 

 ( 1960); (b) recent e.xtent based on 

 1982 data (data source: U.S. Fish 

 and Wildlife Service. Vicksburg. 

 Mississippi). 



