The State of Idaho was recently awarded a grant from the U.S. Forest Service to promote private land forest conservation in the Idaho panhandle, an area known for its high conservation value.  The grant will allow the State of Idaho, working in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, to purchase conservation easements from two Idaho Boundary County families: the Hubbards and the Wages.

Conservation easements on these properties will restrict development on approximately 1,700 acres, supporting working forests and protecting important fish and wildlife habitat, including habitat for five threatened and endangered species.  These families will also be assured that the property they have owned and managed for more than 50 years will remain intact, leaving a legacy of conservation for their heirs.

For over half a century, four generations of the Wages family and three generations of the Hubbard family have lived on and actively managed these properties for timber production, grazing, farming, wildlife habitat, and recreation.  The Hubbards’ property encompasses productive forested bluffs and agricultural lands that stretch west from the forested bench to the banks of the Kootenai River.  The Wages’ property surrounds Bonner Lake, a very unique peatland community that supports six rare plant populations.  Sustainable timber management and agriculture on these properties support jobs and revenue in industries that have been vital to northern Idaho’s economy for over a century.

“This land was my dad’s life,” reflects Wes Hubbard.  “He had three things in his life and that was family, church, and land.  He had no other hobbies.  It would be a great legacy to my dad to see this property always remain the way it is now.”

The USDA Forest Service’s Forest Legacy Program, a competitive federal grant program, promotes both conservation and working forests across the nation.  In Idaho, the program is administered by the Idaho Department of Lands.  To date, Idaho’s program has successfully invested nearly $20 million into the State’s economy and conserved 62,000 acres of private forestland.

“I was ecstatic to hear that this project received funding,” says Karen Sjoquist, Forest Legacy Program Coordinator for the Idaho Department of Lands.  “I’m looking forward to working in partnership with these families and The Nature Conservancy to achieve our mutual goals: to protect valuable resources that forests provide to families, the environment and the economy.”

More information about the Forest Legacy Program can be found at:

http://www.idl.idaho.gov/forest_legacy/legacy-1.htm

http://www.fs.fed.us/spf/coop/programs/loa/flp.shtml

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