HELENA-WEST HELENA -- The American Land Conservancy (ALC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) have signed an agreement to permanently conserve the 880 acres of timber on Buck Island, a 1,500-acre island located one mile up the Mississippi River from Helena Harbor. The conservation agreement was made possible through the NRCS’s Flood Plain Easement Program, which is designed to pay landowners “to restore, protect, maintain and enhance the functions of the floodplain” while also conserving ecological values such as water quality and open space, according to the agency’s website.
“This is a great day for Helena and the Delta’s economy,” said State Representative Clark Hall (D-Marvell) who has strongly advocated a conservation outcome for Buck Island. “The Mississippi River is why Helena is here, and the recreational opportunities the island will open up are going to mean visitor industry growth, jobs and new tax revenues for Phillips County and Helena-West Helena from people who want a chance to experience America’s greatest river.”
The agreement protects 880 acres of timbered areas of Buck Island, which include important wildlife habitat. “Buck Island is home to many wildlife species, including Arkansas’s largest Mississippi River nesting colony of the endangered Least Terns,” said Jenny Frazier, American Land Conservancy’s Mississippi River program director. “There is much more we can still do for wildlife and recreation here, but conserving the island is the critical first critical step.”
ALC purchased Buck Island at auction in 2005 at the recommendation of the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee (LMRCC). LMRCC is a cooperative nonprofit organization of state and federal agencies formed to address the challenges of effectively managing the natural resources of the Lower Mississippi River through planning, management, information sharing, public education, advocacy and research. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality are represented on LMRCC’s board of directors.
“It is great to know that Buck Island is going to be conserved,” said Ron Nassar, the Vicksburg-based U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service coordinator for the LMRCC. “Part of our ‘Restoring America’s Greatest River’ program involves having public access areas for canoers, boaters, fishermen, hikers and birders. If and when the public gains access to Buck Island, it will create a 106-mile river trail to Choctaw Island Wildlife Management Area in Arkansas City. The river trail will start attracting use in a uniquely rich wildlife area of the country. LMRCC believes that ‘what is used is valued,’ and Buck Island can become a magnet for public use.”
Local recreation service vendors, such as the Clarksdale, Miss.-based Quapaw Canoe Co., were enthusiastic about the news.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled,” said Quapaw Canoe Company founder and Chief Visionary Officer John Ruskey. “We opened the Helena outpost in the expectation that Buck Island would one day be conserved and then made available to the public as a destination for paddlers who want to recreate on the river, and as an outdoor classroom for students, both local and from afar, who want to learn how to paddle in the big river. The ALC and NRCS agreement means we are half way to the goal.”
“The list of supporters for this outcome is lengthy,” said Tim Richardson, ALC director of Government Affairs. “State Representative Clark Hall, U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, and Phillips County Judge Don Gentry were all prime movers along with many Helena-area civic leaders. Over sixty chambers of commerce, state lawmakers, county judges, and community coalitions in the Delta have promoted Buck Island’s conservation and public use. Protecting and restoring Mark Twain’s Mississippi is clearly an idea whose time has come.”
© 2010 Helena Daily World
