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Implementation Outline
Synthesize state of the science for implementing bottomland hardwood and agroforestry riparian buffer restoration; identify what is known and where there are important information gaps. Discuss organizational structures, policies, and programs available for landowners and citizen groups.
Lead Author: Dr. Randall Rousseau
Implementing bottomland hardwood and agroforestry riparian buffer restoration presents challenges to landowners and practitioners. Decisions must be made about where restoration may be most effective, how restoration fits in the larger landscape, whether benefits of restoration are adequate, at what scale planning should occur, how to organize people at a scale that is economically and ecologically useful, and what assistance programs are most appropriate. What private and public policies and programs are available in the LMAV for reforestation and afforestation? What does research tell us about the effectiveness, impact and implications of these programs and how these programs might be more effective?
Effectiveness of Public Efforts
- Current Farm Bill provisions -- Contrast programs for BLH, coastal forests, and agroforestry buffers
- Wetlands Reserve Program
- Conservation Reserve Program
- Wetlands Enhancement Program
- Forestland Enhancement Program
- Agriculture production programs (ACP, FIP, etc)
- Others….
- Other Federal agency efforts
- LMAV research efforts at USDA FS
- USDI F&W efforts (Partners in Flight?)
- Other Conservation Plans (EPA for example)
- State Programs
- Arkansas
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Tennessee
Effectiveness of Public Efforts
- Ducks Unlimited
- The Nature Conservancy
- National Fish & Wildlife Foundation
- Potlatch, etc.
Developing market values for ecosystem services
- Carbon credits
- Nitrogen and water quality (sediments, non-point pollution) credits?
- Hunting, fishing, and recreation, bird watching and migration
- Wetland Mitigation
- Valuation of other ecosystem services
Organizational Structures to aggregate ownerships and interests at scales that work
- Landcare
- Conservation Districts
- Councils of Government
Implementation Concepts
- Spatial scale for restoration that works economically and ecologically
- Integrated watershed planning
- Planning in coastal forests
- Landscape mosaics
- Working lands
- Green infrastructure of urban development
Technical Issues of Reforestation and Afforestation
- Hydrologic changes – surface water, groundwater, irrigation, subsidence, impoundments, and diversions.
- Seed sources (including saline coastal areas)
Information Gaps
- Valuation and potential of ecosystem services
- How do landowners make decisions about restoration?
- Optimal organizational structures for implementing policy from the local to LMAV wide level
- How can science better inform policy makers?
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