"The Yazoo Backwater Area is critical habitat for 257 species of birds, including Pectoral Sandpipers that make a 19,000-mile round-trip migration every year between the Arctic Tundra and South America.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced an unprecedented move to resurrect the wasteful, environmentally devastating Yazoo Backwater Pumps Project in Mississippi's South Delta. The costly, outdated project—initially authorized by Congress in 1941—would drain and destroy up to 200,000 acres of Mississippi Flyway wetlands that support more than 450 species of birds and wildlife.
The Corps' own study has found that under the best-case scenario, two-thirds of the area would continue to flood even with the Pumps in place. This analysis makes it clear that the project's real purpose is not to protect communities from flooding, but rather to benefit agribusiness by draining wetlands to plant crops. There are more effective, less expensive flood control measures including elevating homes, and compensating farmers to restore cropland back to wetlands.
Tell the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers you oppose the Yazoo Pumps and that they should advance immediate, affordable flood risk solutions that will protect local communities and birds that depend on the Mississippi Flyway. The deadline to comment is November 30."
Audubon Action Alert: Speak Out Against Draining Mississippi Flyway Wetlands
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced an unprecedented move to resurrect the wasteful, environmentally devastating Yazoo Backwater Pumps Project in Mississippi's South Delta. The costly, outdated project—initially authorized by Congress in 1941—would drain and destroy up to 200,000 acres of Mississippi Flyway wetlands that support more than 450 species of birds and wildlife.
The Corps' own study has found that under the best-case scenario, two-thirds of the area would continue to flood even with the Pumps in place. This analysis makes it clear that the project's real purpose is not to protect communities from flooding, but rather to benefit agribusiness by draining wetlands to plant crops. There are more effective, less expensive flood control measures including elevating homes, and compensating farmers to restore cropland back to wetlands.
Tell the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers you oppose the Yazoo Pumps and that they should advance immediate, affordable flood risk solutions that will protect local communities and birds that depend on the Mississippi Flyway. The deadline to comment is November 30."
Audubon Action Alert: Speak Out Against Draining Mississippi Flyway Wetlands