Black Belt Prairie Restoration Initiative

In 2004, Wildlife Mississippi, in cooperation with the MDWFP and other partners, began the Black Belt Prairie Restoration Initiative to restore, enhance, and protect native prairie habitat within the Black Belt Prairie Region.

The Black Belt Region

The Black Belt Region of Mississippi and Alabama once included more than 350,000 acres of native grasslands. These prairies are a product of their unique geology. Many of the native grasslands in the region have been converted to production agriculture or pine plantations, or have been significantly degraded by the presence of non-native grasses and invasive native woody plants. Remnant prairie sites are scattered across the region, most of which are no greater than 10 - 20 acres in size.

Prairies and other early successional grasslands provide critically important habitat for many species of upland game, such as rabbits and bobwhites, as well as grasslands songbirds, such as the dickcissel, eastern meadowlark, and grasshopper sparrow. Additionally, prairie grasslands in the Black Belt Region have outstanding biological diversity, hosting more than 400 species of plants and several thousand species of invertebrates.

Black Belt Prairie Restoration Initiative

In 2004, Wildlife Mississippi, in cooperation with the MDWFP and other state and federal partners, began the Black Belt Prairie Restoration Initiative, which seeks to restore, enhance, and protect native prairie habitat within the Black Belt Prairie Region of Mississippi and Alabama. To date, approximately 10,000 acres have been restored and or enhanced under the Initiative, with several more projects currently underway. In 2010, the Initiative was granted a conservation practice in the Conservation Reserve Program to provide financial incentives for landowners to restore prairie grasslands on marginal crop lands in the Black Belt. Restoration efforts are constantly evolving based on information gained in the field and through research projects.

Southeastern Prairie Symposium

In 2012, the MDWFP in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wildlife Mississippi, and Mississippi State University hosted the Southeastern Prairie Symposium in Starkville, Mississippi. The symposium allowed southern prairie restoration researchers and practitioners to meet and share ideas. The symposium was attended by more than 120 natural resources professionals representing 14 states.

Attendees were brought to common ground on the topics of prairie remnants, conservation, and working grasslands while also listening to presentations about restoration and management of southeastern prairie grasslands including the Black Belt Region of Mississippi and Alabama, Jackson Prairie of central Mississippi, Cajun Prairie of southern Louisiana, longleaf pine savannahs of the Gulf Coastal Plain, and the Barrens of Tennessee and Kentucky.