The Value of Mississippi’s Wetlands

Wetlands play an important role in Mississippi's culture and recreational and sporting heritage. They provide crucial habitat for birds, fish, and other wildlife. Yet the economic benefits of wetlands are often overlooked. In reality, Mississippi's economy depends on the same healthy wetlands that support its wildlife, underscoring a simple truth. The economy is not separate from the environment. It is part of it.

Audubon set out to assess the economic value of Mississippi’s wetlands for communities, businesses, and residents, with the goal of understanding the full breadth of benefits they provide and how they support Mississippi's economy, now and into the future.

From the Delta's cypress-tupelo swamps to coastal marshes along the Mississippi Sound, the state’s 3.8 million acres of wetlands are hard at work every day -- filtering and replenishing the water supply, protecting property from floodwaters, and sustaining a hunting and fishing heritage that runs deep.

So what are those benefits worth to Mississippians?

To answer this question, Audubon worked with Earth Economics, a nonpartisan nonprofit specializing in ecological economics, to map and model wetlands across the state.  The new analysis found that all 2.9 million Mississippians directly benefit from the state's 3.8 million wetland acres. 

Wetlands offer cost-effective solutions for strengthening economic and environmental resilience. Providing adequate protections for wetlands is a common sense, durable investment in public safety and community prosperity, while supporting the birds and the habitats that rely on them. 

Other report highlights include:

• 252,000 residents living in floodplains benefit from reduced flood risk in a state with the eighth most-expensive home insurance in the nation. 
• Mississippi’s wetlands hold an estimated 287 billion gallons of water. That’s enough to meet the annual needs of 7.9 million people -- over two and a half times the state's population-- and more than two-thirds of the water used each year to irrigate the state’s crops.
• Wetlands support both the state’s $9.5 billion agriculture industry and its $4.2 billion outdoor recreation economy.
•  Voluntary programs like Wetland Reserve Easements, which help landowners restore flood-prone farmland to wetlands, have saved taxpayers as much as $1,420 per acre in avoided crop insurance, commodity program, and disaster assistance costs. 

Far beyond the economic benefits, it is well understood that Mississippi's wetlands are priceless in ways no study can measure. Wetlands offer cost-effective, natural solutions that help keep Mississippi’s communities safer, its economy strong, and its outdoor traditions alive for generations to come. 

Click here or at the link below to read the full report.