By NANCY VORIS
Indiana Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Following the flood of 2008, an area in Posey County once known as Mackey Bend is now known as Mackey Island.

“The Wabash River cut a new, permanent channel across an area of land that was being farmed by numerous landowners,” said Mike McGovern, public affairs officer with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). “Mackey Island is isolated, with no way to get farm equipment onto it now. The island that was formed is a little under 2,000 acres.”

Though that may be an extreme case of destruction, many other farm fields across Indiana have also been permanently scarred by floodwaters.

“We have seen places here in Indiana where flooding losses happen frequently enough, and productivity is low enough that they are not worth the investment it takes to continue to farm them,” said State Conservationist Jane Hardisty, of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). “We have an opportunity to (help) farmers who find themselves in that situation.”

There are two conservation programs offering funding to purchase easements on farmlands where flooding is a problem: the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) and the Floodplain Easement Program (FEP). The NRCS anticipates receiving a significant amount of funding for both programs.

“This is an excellent time to enroll fields or parts of fields where flooding or flood damages have made crop production marginal,” Hardisty said.

The eligibility requirements are slightly different for the two programs. For the FEP, land qualifies if it has been flooded at least in the past 12 months, or twice in the past 10 years. In the WRP, land qualifies if it would have been considered a wetland area before it was converted to agricultural production.

Under both programs, NRCS buys easements on lands to remove them from production agriculture. Once the easements are in place, NRCS may do some restoration work to put the land black into floodplain use or wetland conditions. Restoration work is paid up to 100 percent by NRCS, and helps retain floodwaters in floodplains and associated areas, restore water quality and provide habitats for wildlife.

The easements offer landowners the means and the opportunity to protect, restore and enhance lands subject to repeated flooding and flood damage. Benefits include:

•Reduction of the public risk of flood damages including public risk to downstream or adjacent lands
•Protection of lives and property from floods
•Reduction in soil erosion through restoration, protection and/or enhancement of the floodplain
•Elimination of future disaster payments
•Restoration, protection, management, maintenance and enhancement of the functions of wetlands, riparian areas and other lands
•Conservation of natural values including fish and wildlife habitat, water quality improvement, flood water retention, groundwater recharge, open space, aesthetics and environmental education
The funds were made available after summer and fall flooding in Indiana. The signup ends March 27.

“The money will be assigned to applications that have been received and placed on a ranking list,” said McGovern, public affairs officer for NRCS. “The sites that provide the greatest benefit for the least money will rank highest. But the process will proceed fairly quickly.”

So far, 21 FEP contracts have been distributed throughout the state, with 10 concentrated in Posey and Daviess counties. There were 2,488 acres put under easement, with a payment to landowners totaling $6,732,933.

More information can be found online at www.in.nrcs.usda.gov/programs under “Easement Programs,” or call the NRCS office at 317-290-3200.