CSP Helps Gladwin Couple Improve Deer Habitat
Charles and Cindy Jones utilized USDA Conservation Programs to Improve Wildlife Habitat on Their Gladwin County Property.
The USDA Conservation Stewardship Program offers participants the flexibility to prioritize the natural resources most important to them. In the case of Charles and Cindy Jones, the natural resource most important to them has four legs and antlers.
The long-time Gladwin residents purchased a 67-acre plot of land consisting of woods and pasture about 24 years ago. The property was hardly a haven for deer or other wildlife when they purchased the land, Charles said. The trees were browsed and the hayfield was covered with snow. There were hardly any wildlife tracks or other signs of life, he said.
The couple began working with NRCS in 2008 and established switchgrass on about 4 acres of land and planted a 2,000-foot windbreak, utilizing financial assistance from the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program which was later incorporated into the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). They planted switch grass to create pheasant habitat however the pheasants were slow to cooperate. “The deer like it though,” said Charles. A couple of recent pheasant sightings gave him hope they may still return.
In subsequent years they utilized EQIP to develop a forest management plan emphasizing deer habitat and for forest stand improvement. They utilized the forest stand improvement practice to diversify their forest habitat by removing about three acres of white spruce and planting fruit trees and shrubs in their place. The clearing and replanting was meant to provide food for deer and other wildlife. “It’s working, we really like it,” Charles said.
With a forest management plan and other conservation practices in place, the Jones’s decided to enroll in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). The program provides annual payments for maintaining their conservation practices and additional financial assistance for implementing new conservation enhancements. They enrolled in CSP in 2021 and implemented their first enhancements the following year, they included about half an acre of monarch butterfly habitat and additional tree and shrub plantings. The monarch habitat enhancement was inspired by their daughter who raises and releases the butterflies. She has released over 1,000 monarchs and now has the perfect habitat to release them in.
Charles and Cindy enjoy their property for much more than just deer hunting. Charles spends a lot of time in the hunting blinds that dot the property just to observe the wide variety of wildlife that live on their land. They also enjoy seeing the images from the trail cameras scattered around the property. From a property that was originally depleted of wildlife they now see images not only of numerous deer, but also coyotes, bobcats, fox, turkey, and hawks among many others. With a management plan and the conservation practices they’ve implemented, the winter snow went from barren when they purchased the property to looking like an “LA freeway” with all of the animal tracks, he said.
