Local farmers begin restoration of natural habitat

By ELAINE SANDMAN

Staff Writer

Although local farmer Tony Shelton learned about the USDA's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game's (IDFG) Habitat Improvement Program (HIP) a long time ago, he just recently finalized the land purchases he wanted to make to be able to participate in these programs.

"Every day you see more traffic, more changes in this county," Shelton said. "I've traveled numerous places over the years and I don't want to see the views and wildlife from here disappear like they have elsewhere."

The CRP and HIP program returns farmland and other types of land back into native wildlife habitat while also preserving them from being developed.

Shelton's property is located near an established wildlife area, so he decided to discuss the CRP/HIP program with his neighbor Greg Frago.

"Increasing costs and thinner profit margins result in larger corporate farms, and our properties are not suited to that type of operation," Frago explained. "My wife and I love this county, which is why we purchased the property here 20 years ago. When Tony Shelton approached me about the opportunity to help the county maintain more of its natural beauty and wildlife, I really liked the idea."

Although Shelton had already converted a portion of his property into a nursery, he still sought to return additional acreage to a natural wildlife habitat and forestry state, but he could not afford to do it alone.

With the help of Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) Forester Jerry Garten, Shelton had also already implemented a reforestation program, but his desire to recreate a wilderness atmosphere required putting even more of his land into forest.

"We don't want to live surrounded by subdivisions," Shelton and Frago both said.

With that in mind, Frago and Shelton contacted USDA District Conservationist Michael Gondek, who in turn contacted Jerry Garten and IDFG Regional Wildlife Habitat Biologist Jeff Knetter, because he knew it would take all three programs to create a comprehensive plan.

"With the CRP/HIP programs offering us funding, we knew that restoring some of our properties back into natural wildlife habitats was now possible," Frago explained.

With Gondek and Knetter's guidance through the application process, Shelton and Frago began the first step of preparing their property for the conversion back into a natural wildlife/forestry state on May 8.

The CRP program offers farmers an annual rental payment for the term of a multi-year contract with additional cost sharing provided to establish the vegetative cover needed to recreate the natural wildlife habitat.

The HIP program is funded entirely by the revenue from hunting license sales. The CRP program is funded through the Commodity Credit Corporation, and is administered by the Farm Service Agency, with technical land eligibility determination, conservation planning and practice implementation provided through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Through the utilization of both of these programs, both Shelton and Frago will receive assistance and expert advice throughout the transformation process.

For more information contact Jeff Knetter at 267-5157. Or District Conservationist Mike Gondek at 267-3340.