Wetland Reserve Program (WRP)
2007 Accomplishments
 

The Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) is a voluntary program that provides technical and financial assistance to eligible landowners to restore, enhance, and protect wetlands.  Landowners have the option of enrolling eligible lands through permanent easements, 30-year easements, or restoration cost-share agreements.  The program is offered on a continuous sign-up basis and offers landowners an opportunity to establish, at minimal cost, long-term conservation and wildlife habitat enhancement practices and protection.  WRP has an acreage enrollment limitation rather than a funding limit.

In 2007, $648,914 funded 2 contracts for a total of 6,489 acres.

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Nonesuch River Salt Marsh Restoration Project Completed

The fifth major salt marsh restoration project in four years in the 3,100-acre Scarborough Marsh Wildlife Management Area was completed in 2007.  This project will help restore the ecological health of the Nonesuch River, a 247-acre subwatershed of the Marsh area.  The Nonesuch River salt marsh had been negatively impacted by old hayroads and man-made drainage ditches that cut across the marsh, starving the marsh of needed tidal waters.  In part because of the lack of tidal flow, multiple stands of non-native Phragmites invaded sections of the salt marsh. 

The Nonesuch River salt marsh restoration work included four main components:  1) breaching the old hayroads at strategic location, 2) plugging ditches to improve hydrology and associated ecological functions on the marsh, 3) treating the Phragmites stands to minimize the threat of broad-scale invasion, and 4) conducting pre- and post- restoration monitoring.

This project was accomplished through the efforts of many partners.  NRCS provided technical planning and engineering assistance, as well as WRP funds to implement the work.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Gulf of Maine Coastal Program assisted in the design of the restoration project, coordinated complex permit requirements, raised funds, developed the monitoring protocol and selected an environmental consultant to conduct the monitoring.  The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife manages the Scarborough Marsh Wildlife Management Area and offered biological guidance, hired contractors to implement the restoration work, and provided oversight for the project.  The Friends of Scarborough Marsh played a pivotal role in coordinating the work of all partners.

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