BUHL, Idaho — As population growth in southern Idaho has spurred a boom in housing construction, some long-time residents are concerned that the agricultural core of the Magic Valley could fade as subdivisions increase. Some farmers and ranchers have looked into conservation easements to preserve their working lands for generations to come.
- Magic Valley Land Trust picks up where the Southern Idaho Land Trust left off, helping landowners navigate establishing conservation easements on their properties to designate future uses.
- Buhl farmer Rick Pearson took Idaho News 6 on a tour of his 600-acre, full-section farm, which he is considering setting up with a conservation easement that would preserve it for farming, ruling out subdividing the property or future development into neighborhoods.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
This barn and several other buildings on Rick Pearson's Farm are over 100 years old.
“Right in the corner, you can barely see in three towers,” Pearson said, “That's the corner of my farm.”
Although once a common sight in southern Idaho, 'Full section' farms like this are getting harder to find.
“All of our land has been cut up in smaller parcels and put houses on,” Pearson said. “I think it's neat just to have a big piece of land that has not been has not been divided up."
“You look around Twin Falls and a lot of the best ground in Twin Falls is now developed. It all has homes on it and whatnot,” Pearson said.
That's part of why Pearson is considering steps to keep the entire property intact well into the future.
That's where the Magic Valley Land Trust steps in. Helping people like Pearson set up conservation easements.
“Growth's not 'bad,’” Tandace Crane told me. “But it's something that we should be really aware of and grow conscientiously instead of just as fast as far as we can go.”
Crane is with the Magic Valley Land Trust and told me there are lots of ways to secure the future of working private lands.
“So if there are people who are interested in a conservation easement and want to see their land forever be working lands, or forever be a place for agriculture they would come to us and let us know what they want, and then we work out a conservation easement, based on what they want to protect that literally for forever,” Crane said.
“I am third generation, Idaho Farmer, and fourth generation will be coming back home from U of I in May,” Pearson said. “I just think it's important to pass that heritage, to pass that legacy on to your kids or to the future generations.”
