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Project Saves Mississippi Wetlands

(National Wildlife Federation)

In 1941, the US Army Corps of Engineers proposed a flood control project in the lower Mississippi Delta that would have had catastrophic environmental impacts to more than 314 square miles of wetlands. 

Fighting the project, known as the Yazoo Pumps, has been a top priority of the Mississippi Wildlife Federation (MWF) for more than 50 years.  During the mid 1980s through the encouragement of Gerald Barber, MWF engaged the assistance of NWF to help them in their fight.  MWF, NWF, Corps Reform Network and many other national, regional and local organizations and individuals tirelessly spoke out in opposition of the Yazoo Pumps project. 

On August 31, 2008, the EPA made a final determination to veto the Yazoo Pumps project (only the 12th veto in the agencies history), thus ending this nearly 70 year old battle to save the wetlands of the lower Mississippi Delta.