COST-SHARE PROGRAM IMPROVES PRIVATE LAND HABITAT

by: Carrie Chalcraft, Regional Wildlife Habitat Biologist It's HIP to care about wildlife! H.I.P. is short for the Habitat Improvement Program of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The program helps landowners improve habitat for upland game and waterfowl on their property by paying up to 75 % of the cost to the landowner. Many types of projects qualify for funding from the HIP program. Some projects that have been successful in the past include planting grass seeds that are beneficial to upland game birds like pheasants or turkeys, placing tree and shrub plantings that provide woody cover for upland birds, putting in a pond that will provide nesting habitat for ducks or geese, and installing wood duck boxes or goose nesting platforms near wetland or river areas. The Fish and Game Department has long recognized that private landowners are important contributors to healthy and abundant wildlife populations. While National Forests, State Lands, and BLM Lands provide habitat for wildlife, the private land in river valleys, on forested hillsides, in cleared pastures, and in backyards, provides key habitat that wildlife depend on. Many upland birds such as pheasants depend on agricultural lands, which are usually privately owned. As good stewards of their land, private landowners help to ensure that pheasants have adequate winter cover during heavy snows, that turkeys have something to eat during the cold winter months, and that wood ducks and geese have safe places to nest and raise their young in the spring Projects on private lands really make a difference. Just imagine if someone put four wood duck boxes on their property this spring. If only two of those boxes were used by wood ducks for nesting, that simple action ensured that two pairs of wood ducks and their ducklings had shelter through the spring for as long as those wood duck boxes last. If the boxes last for 10 years and the wood ducks raised three ducklings every year, that's sixty little wood ducks who will go on to become adults and raise little wood duck-lings of their own. The benefits are exponential! Good wildlife habitat on private land can be the difference between life and death for some animals and private landowners can help in many ways. It's a lot easier to participate in the program than you might think! The first thing you have to do is call your local Idaho Fish and Game habitat biologist. The habitat biologist can discuss your property and potential projects on the phone. If your land sounds like a good candidate for the program, and you are interested after learning more about HIP, the habitat biologist will make an appointment to accompany you on a field tour of your land. Even if you decide that HIP is not right for you, your local habitat biologist will be happy to give you technical assistance and advice on how you can improve your land for wildlife. For the Saint Maries area and the southern portion of the panhandle, the local habitat biologist is Carrie Chalcraft. She can be reached by phone at 689-3453. If you have ideas of your own, bring them to her. If you just know you want to do something for wildlife but you don't know what, she can help you come up with ideas that fit your property. Those landowners living in the northern or central portion of the panhandle, call (208) 769-1414 to find out how you can provide wildlife habitat on your property with help from the Idaho Fish and Game Department. To receive funding, you will have to sign a short and simple agreement that outlines what you will be doing and how long you intend to maintain the new wildlife habitat you are providing. These terms will be catered to whatever project you wish to put on the ground. In exchange, the Fish and Game Department outlines how much money it will provide for the cost of the project. For example, if you want to seed 40 acres of your property with grasses that will benefit pheasants, the seed could cost around $150. The Fish and Game Department will reimburse you $102.50 towards the purchase of the seeds. Or, let's say you want to purchase 8 wood duck boxes at $30 per box, Fish and Game will reimburse you $90 out of the total cost of $120. Commitments to maintain wildlife habitat for the very long term may be awarded funding up to 100% of the project cost. It's that easy! Landowners can combine the HIP program with other programs like the CRP or the NRCS' EQUIP and WHIP programs. If you combine these programs together you can do even more for wildlife at an even lower cost. Call your local habitat biologist to find out more about combining Federal and State habitat improvement programs. Landowners can design projects for non-game species like songbirds or frogs. Call your local habitat biologist and they can tell you how Idaho Fish and Game can help you improve your private land to suit the needs of almost any local wildlife species, from butterflies to bats. With increasing development of private lands outside of urban areas, rural private lands are more important to wildlife now than ever. All those pieces of private land add up and can be a great benefit to many species if they provide the right kind of habitat. We all love to hear geese cackling at each other in the spring, or seeing colorful wood ducks paddling around with their ducklings in tow. The HIP program can make this a reality for private landowners. Participation in the program increases property values, improves aesthetics, and creates a sense of pride and satisfaction in stewardship of the land. These are just a few of the reasons to participate in the Habitat Improvement Program. But most importantly, ensuring that habitat for these species is available on BOTH public and private land ensures that we and our grandchildren and their grandchildren will always have the bountiful opportunities to enjoy the plentiful wildlife that the Idaho Panhandle is blessed with today!