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LANDOWNER CORNER Doug Causey on his land in Craven County, North Carolina. Photo by Robert Abernethy.
By Robert Abernethy
LANDOWNER SPOTLIGHT
Doing it Right –
Loving the Land for the Next Generation The land has been in Mr. Doug Causey’s family since the 1700s. It is rich land and has supported generations of Causeys. Located in Craven County, North Carolina, Doug and his wife added to the original tract that he inherited from his Dad and increased the property to 150 acres of forest land, and with 50 acres of cropland. Their longleaf journey began in 2001 when Doug contacted the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) about enrolling a portion of the property in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). Part of the Farm Services Administration’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), CREP targets specific state or nationally significant conservation concerns, and Federal funds are available to assist the landowner with management. Participation is voluntary, and the contract period is 10-15 years. In Doug’s case, the NRCS representative met with him and discussed his objectives and how CREP might be of use in achieving them. The North Carolina Forest Service (NCFS) assisted with preparing [ 16 ]
the Forest Stewardship Plan. Doug settled on a longleaf pine planting that removed agricultural land from production and helped him establish a forest of young longleaf (2002) to achieve his objective of improved wildlife habitat. The initial planting of bareroot seedlings failed, and the follow-up planting in February 2003 was with containerized seedlings. Seventeen years later, the stand has survived several hurricanes and is flourishing. I visited Doug, his son Bill, and their consulting forester, Seth Ward, on a windy February day. The deer tracks were abundant, and a tiny winter wren was flitting and feeding in and around brush piles that Doug and Bill had created as they pruned up several rows of oaks. The oak planting consisted of four species, cherrybark, willow, red and white oak, which was established in February 2002 to provide a more diverse area with mast for the wildlife. As we walked through the oaks along a mowed and well-maintained trail, I noted flagging on some of the oaks. Bill said that he and his Dad had marked the smaller oaks, and they would be removed dur-
