Video: Conservation Group Visits Mississippi

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CALEDONIA, MISS. (WCBI) – We play in them, fish along them and use them to water our crops and livestock, but seldom do we think much about taking care of them. A national conservation group hopes to work with local agencies to expand public awareness about how to keep area streams as natural resources.

More than 100 members of the Partners for Conservation group stopped in Caledonia at the Buttahatchie River. It’s part of the group’s annual trip to a state to spread the word about the partnerships between conservation, business, recreation and land use.

The Buttahatchie runs 125 miles from northwest Alabama into Lowndes County before dumping into the Tombigbee.

They are all problems the western United States has long dealt with and successes there can work here.

“‘Cause there is a lot of resource issues that we probably don’t understand from the West but at the same time, there is a lot of commonalities here with whether it’s a water resource or farming or ranching. Those kind of things, there is a lot in common, ” said chairman of the Partners For Conservation group, Jim Stone.

The goal is stronger networks that helped build success stories where everyone can win.

“We always sort of seem to hear things that are always sort of bad about an industry and that is a group that’s really trying to be proactive and really talk about the positive things that we all have in common, which brings us to Mississippi to talk with out neighbors here, ” said Stone.

Stone says there is one secret to success when it comes to solving resource issues: a stronger sense of communication.

“And this is an opportunity for all of us to get together, talk about resource issues and really build sort of a better partnership to get things done on the ground, ” said Stone.

Several organizations have looked at different parts of the Buttahatchie for conservation efforts. That includes the wetlands it feeds and the delta areas from Highway 45 to the Tombigbee.

Today’s meetings were coordinated by Wildlife Mississippi, which already owns 8,000 acres along the banks of the Buttahatchie.