NWTF Honors Mississippi Initiative with Land Stewardship Award
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks’ Fire on the Forty Initiative, a private lands habitat initiative designed to restore and enhance wildlife habitat through use of prescribed fire, won the NWTF’s Land Stewardship Award for promoting wildlife habitat management. The team accepted the award at the NWTF’s 50th annual Convention and Sport Show, sponsored by Mossy Oak.
“The Fire on the Forty Initiative is honored to be recognized for its efforts to increase the use of prescribed fire in biologically significant areas of Mississippi,” said John Gruchy, MDWFP private lands program coordinator. “FOF was developed and supported by more than 15 state and federal agencies, including the NWTF, which has been a key partner in the initiative since its inception, providing funding, supporting landowner workshops and most recently helping partners outfit a prescribed burning equipment trailer. FOF directly aligns with the NWTF’s Habitat for the Hatch Initiative as well as other landscape-scale conservation plans focusing on early successional plant communities.”
The NWTF Mississippi State Chapter has been an annual funding partner for FOF since 2015 and has contributed approximately $120,000 over the years.
In 2011, several organizations came together to design this comprehensive home-grown campaign to increase prescribed burns in Mississippi. Over the past 15 years, FOF has restored over 100,000 acres using a cost-share implementation program, which partially reimburses private landowners for prescribed burning costs.
Rather than simply funding burns, the initiative invests in education and outreach by teaching landowners how to use fire as a long-term management tool. FOF has led 38 workshops and field days over the years, which have empowered more than 1,200 landowners to manage their properties more effectively. Representatives from various partner organizations attend the workshops to introduce private landowners to the ecology of fire, legal considerations, fire weather, fire fuels and behavior, and firing techniques. The focal point of all workshops, however, is a live burn that gives participants real-world experience with prescribed fire. FOF is continuing to adapt the educational component of the initiative to keep up with new technologies and changing landowner demographics.
“Prescribed burning is an essential and natural process that is vital to our ecosystems,” NWTF co-CEO Kurt Dyroff said. “We are proud to have programs like Fire on the Forty helping landowners safely apply prescribed fire to thousands of acres, improving both wildlife habitat and forest management outcomes in Mississippi. It is our privilege to recognize this initiative with the Land Stewardship Award.”
The initiative represents a successful collaborative conservation project with multiple partnerships, anchored by the MDWFP.
FOF would like to thank key funding partners including the Mississippi chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Mississippi Forestry Association, the Mississippi Forestry Commission, the Mississippi Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund, the Mississippi Prescribed Fire Council, the Mississippi Soil and Water Conservation Commission, Mississippi State University, Mississippi Wildlife Federation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Office of Wildland Fire, Quail Forever, State Wildlife Grants Program, The Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and the USDA–NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program.
About the National Wild Turkey Federation
Since 1973, the National Wild Turkey Federation has invested over half a billion dollars into wildlife conservation and has positively impacted over 25 million acres of critical wildlife habitat. Since 2022, the NWTF has also invested over $2.3 million in critical wild turkey research that, when leveraged with partner contributions, has resulted in more than $22 million to guide the management of the wild turkey and to ensure sustainable populations. The organization continues to deliver its mission by working across boundaries on a landscape scale to deliver healthy forests and wildlife habitats, clean and abundant water, resilient communities and robust recreational opportunities. With the help of its dedicated members, partners and staff, the NWTF continues to unite a nation through the life-changing power of the outdoors.