80 Acre habitat projects

I bought this property roughly 2 years ago with many ideas for habitat improvement. Here is a run down of what is done and what remains.
1.) Had the USFWS dig the pond and create the berm
2.) Had 3 areas of timber harvest done with in the 25 acre mature forest. This area was very mature and nothing was growing on the forest floor. I intend to maintain the natural regeneration that will take place to encourage doe bedding and will cut and maintain deer travel corridors in these area.
3.) The area West of the main woods was reed canary grass. I have spent the last 18mo killing this area and now have another 1.5 acres in food plots and roughly 4 acres of tall grass prairie going in this Fall.
4.) The 15 acre tillable to the North will be in crop production 1 more year then it becomes a blank canvas for habitat projects. I’m hoping to do a combination of food plots, tall native grasses and direct seeding of hardwoods.

Nice job.

Looks to me that you have accomplished a lot. WTG

Care to elaborate more on the USFWS pond digging? Any credits or easements involved? Cost/cost share?

The wildlife says Thank You !

The pond dig was part of their partnering for wildlife program. It was supposed to be a 50% cost share but in the end they covered the entire cost. The only restriction I have is I can not fill it in for 10yrs. They also provided all my Prairie seed which I have to maintain for 10yrs as well. No annual payments like CRP but it didn’t come with some of the Agricultural restrictions of CRP. I was able to plant where ever I wanted to suit my habitat plan.

riverrookie wrote:

The pond dig was part of their partnering for wildlife program. It was supposed to be a 50% cost share but in the end they covered the entire cost. The only restriction I have is I can not fill it in for 10yrs. They also provided all my Prairie seed which I have to maintain for 10yrs as well. No annual payments like CRP but it didn’t come with some of the Agricultural restrictions of CRP. I was able to plant where ever I wanted to suit my habitat plan.

Thanks for the info!