Property Makeover: Conservation Stewardship Program
This article will be a testimonial for my property that was recently enrolled in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). CSP is the largest conservation program in the United States. These are the kinds of improvements I encourage landowners to make. Ultimately, it is my goal to increase their habitat so they could potentially become enrolled in CSP.
“The wildlife and its habitat cannot speak, so we must and we will.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Habitat Focus
The 40-acre Mecosta County property purchased in 2014 had been in the same family for over 100 years. The previous owners did not conduct any forest management on the 22 acres of woods but they did allow a local farmer to cut hay on 12 acres of the parcel. The remaining 6 acres accounted for the house and barns along with an old cow pasture.
I had waited my whole life to have my own patch of dirt. I had a goal of improving the property for great hunting with an emphasis on whitetail deer. The first order of business was to discontinue farming the 12-acre field. Essentially, the 12 acres gave me a blank canvas to make habitat improvements. The 12-acre field was wide open from hedge row to hedge row, located between the house and timbered portion of the property. 2015 habitat improvements included tree plantings, switchgrass plantings and tallgrass prairie plantings. The plantings created diversity, structure, screening, and cover in the wide open 12-acre field. These plantings, future additions to the field, and a timber harvest would help my CSP application score higher in future years.
The Application
I initially applied for CSP in 2019 and was not awarded a contract. I scored low on that application because the 22-acre woodlot had not been managed in over 100 years, resulting in an unhealthy overstocked forest, limiting the amount of food and cover available to wildlife. At the time, I was under contract to have the woods harvested. In July 2020 I got the call that the loggers were headed to the property. I applied again for CSP in 2020.
Site Visit
The property was visited by the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) District Conservationist for both applications. The NRCS is a branch of the USDA. The site visit took a couple of hours. During the visit, I was asked a series of questions about the property’s resources. The NRCS focuses on the resource concerns of soil, water, air, plants, animals and energy. The application is then ranked based on resource concerns met and the proportion of their land impacted by new activities. CSP provides annual payments for the five-year contract. Selected applicants can get paid to install new conservation activities and for maintaining existing practices. My five-year contract will pay me just over $16,000, I will have estimated costs to make the improvements of $2,500 to $3,000.
CSP Enhancements
The new activities planned with my CSP contract include a 1.4-acre tree/shrub planting for wildlife food in an area that was heavily timbered in 2019. There will be a mix of white spruce and four shrub species planted. Additionally, I will be planting for high carbon sequestration on 2.9 acres. I choose to plant larger stock 36-inch potted white spruce trees for this enhancement. 1 acre will be planted in the timbered area to create a whitetail bedding area and 1.9 acres will be planted in my switchgrass and tallgrass prairie plantings. The property lacked a conifer component and these plantings will help me create structure and diversity. My farm is one of three properties in the county enrolled in CSP.
My Experience
I was going to continue to improve the property regardless of becoming enrolled in any government program. I missed opportunities to have other programs like EQIP in helping establish some of my habitat. I was impatient and wanted to get started, but habitat takes time to create and mature. Enrolling in CSP allowed me to make significant improvements in a shorter period of time. I’m now getting paid to improve my property and even my wife wonders how I pulled this off. I would definitely recommend the CSP program to anyone that wants to significantly improve their property for wildlife.