What Are Some Examples?
- Using TEA-21 to Restore Wetlands
State Line Bog and Dead Dog Bog in Mississippi
In1990, the Mississippi Department of Transportation (DOT), purchased
two bogs in the southeast part of the State and began a concerted restoration
effort in cooperation with the Nature Conservancy, Mississippi Chapter
and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (DWFP).
The restoration of the bogs was planned as a wetland bank to offset the
unavoidable impacts of improvements along U.S. Highway 98 and other future
road projects. State Line Bog and Dead Dog Bog were former paper company
lands which had been degraded due to timber harvest and severe hydrological
modifications that drained much of the area. The total land purchased
by the DOT amounted to146 Hectares (360 acres).
The restoration work involved backfilling drainage ditches to restore
wetland hydrology and periodic prescribed burns to gradually remove logging
debris and scattered areas of dense regrowth pine overstory and shrubby
understory that had invaded the modified site following the timber harvest.
This worked provided sunlit clearings and an appropriate moisture regime,
thereby allowing a resurgence of the insectivorous pitcher plant communities
which once dominated the bogs. Once the bogs were completely restored,
title was transferred to the DWFP where the lands remain as a State-owned
nature area held in trust for public use and enjoyment.
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