The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Blue Mountain Pheasants Forever (Pheasants Forever) recently teamed with Mike and Steve Erwin to relocate two wildlife watering guzzlers on their 1,000-acre lease with an expiring Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contract near Prescott.

Signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1985, the CRP is one of the largest private-lands conservation programs in the United States. In exchange for a yearly rental payment, farmers enrolled in the program remove acreage from active crop production and re-establish native vegetation to benefit wildlife and the natural environment. CRP enrollments span approximately 14 years and can be renewed.

The Erwin brothers' lease will be returned to active crop production, and to protect the benefits of guzzlers and other habitat features on the acreage, they reached out to Pheasants Forever with the support of the property owner.

Wanting to preserve a mature sagebrush-steppe shelterbelt, the Erwin brothers requested Pheasants Forever assistance in relocating the guzzlers from planting acreage into the shelterbelt.

Sagebrush-steppe is rare native habitat in our corner of Washington. Sagebrush is a slow-growing shrub requiring years to reach a size capable of providing maximum habitat benefits, while sagebrush-steppe provides important food, cover and nesting habitat for many songbirds, upland birds, deer, and other small mammals.

Additionally, native raptors like the ferruginous hawk, a state-listed "threatened" species adapted to sagebrush-steppe habitats, can benefit from maintaining established shelterbelts as CRP acreage returns to crop production.

Guzzlers also maintain a water source for myriad wildlife throughout the summer and are designed to fill with rainwater. The "aprons" that direct water into the guzzler provide summer shade for birds and small mammals.

Pheasants Forever volunteers were able to move both guzzlers and reinstall one of them on September 27th. The second will be installed October 3rd. With installation complete, the soil will be smoothed around the guzzlers and reseeded with a native grass mix.

Pheasants Forever seeks to partner with local growers on similar projects and habitat enhancements at no cost to the grower, and now is the perfect time.

In Walla Walla and Columbia Counties, up to 253,000 acres of habitat are captured under CRP contracts set to expire between 2020 – 2022. The Erwin brothers' project exemplifies a simple and timely effort supporting the Pheasants Forever habitat mission and local wildlife.

Community members with a potential project are encouraged to contact Pheasants Forever at bmpf@bmpf258.com.