As part of the KY Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources’ (KDFWR) “Western Kentucky Waterfowl Initiative”, the KDFWR and the Kentucky USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) launched an Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Focused Conservation Project aimed at providing wetland wildlife habitat in cropland specifically in Ballard County, KY. Ballard County, situated at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, lies within the northernmost reach of the Lower Mississippi River Valley. The county has many highly productive farmed wetland crop fields and large historic wetlands.

This project targets private-owned cropland around the Ballard and Boatwright Wildlife Management Areas (WMA’s). These WMA’s make up more than 16,000 acres of permanently protected habitat and are managed specifically for waterfowl. The 2016 Ballard County Wetland Review kicked off this initiative, and Anne Mini of the LMVJV was one of more than forty participants. This EQIP Focused Conservation Project is furthering the work already in progress on public lands by helping private landowners expand wetland habitat management into their cropping operation to benefit waterfowl and the other wetland dependent species.

Management efforts focus on flooding agriculture crop fields during the months of October through April, as well as adding moist soil management into portions of the fields. Flooded crops not only provide high energy food for waterfowl in the form of grain, but also the vast mudflats that shorebirds require to forage on. And by adding moist soil management into portions of the crop fields, landowners increase the nutritional value of the habitat and provide all the necessary nutrients these birds need to survive the vigor of migration. This EQIP project provides financial assistance to install the engineering practices needed to provide wetland wildlife habitat, as well as management components such as disking and variable wetland drawdowns, which provide the critical wildlife habitat needed during migration and wintering periods.

Through this Focused Conservation Project, each participant enrolled will add wetland management into their cropping operation for at least three consecutive years. Nearly all will also include at least one year of moist soil management in their rotation. In 2020, 8 producers enrolled into the program, resulting in 784 acres of habitat managed at a higher level. In 2021, 14 additional producers enrolled 525 acres of habitat. In 2022, the final year of the application period, 5 additional producers enrolled 157 acres into the program, bringing the total acres of wetland habitat managed for migratory birds to 1,466 acres. Partners are on track to spend nearly $1.6 million on wetland habitat on private land in Ballard County, KY through this project.

EQIP-Focused Conservation Project: Ballard County Wetland Wildlife Habitat Initiative