2021 Private Lands Conservation Champion

Harvey Kieffer - Beauregard Parish, Louisiana

Mr. Harvey Kieffer is very passionate about his efforts to provide good habitat. He enjoys hunting and fishing, but also enjoys bird watching, learning about wildflowers, and observing pollinators. He purchased 120 acres of mixed pine forest with a dense, brushy understory in 2006. He desired to improve the habitat for wild turkey, while benefiting as many wildlife species as possible and managing the timber for economic return. 

Shortly after purchase, he enrolled in the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and began a prescribed burning program. Since then, he has worked through various programs (WHIP, EQIP, CRP) and with multiple agencies to convert the impenetrable brush into an open pine forest with an herbaceous understory. Mr. Harvey has a management plan developed by the National Wild Turkey Federation. Through partnerships with USDA-NRCS and Farm Service Agency (FSA), The Nature Conservancy, and Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, he has planted trees and native warm season grasses (NWSG), conducted forest stand improvement, and continued his prescribed burning. 

Mr. Harvey has managed his timber with selective harvests over the years, targeting a basal area (BA) of approximately 70 (square feet per acre). After thinning, he installed additional acres of NWSG and conservation cover. Mechanical and chemical control of the Chinese privet and other brush, along with consistent prescribed burning have led to a healthy herbaceous understory, creating habitat for grassland nesting birds including wild turkey. 

He continues to strive to improve his property and hopes to expand his efforts with NRCS's CSP Program. Hurricane Laura decimated a portion of his timber, and a salvage harvest was just completed. He plans to replant this area with longleaf. He has created two ponds on the property, which hold perennial water, and two moist soil/shallow water areas where he manages early successional vegetation and plants periodically to provide food for wintering waterfowl. These areas also benefit wading birds. He has installed wood duck nest boxes and bluebird houses, which are regularly used. He put up martin houses and bat boxes, but did not experience much success with them, and they did not survive Hurricane Laura. 

Mr. Harvey found native milkweeds on his property, collected seeds, propagated plants, and transplanted them back onto his property to enhance monarch butterfly habitat. He developed an extensive system of trails throughout his property and created numerous small wildlife openings with food plots. Wild turkey and white-tailed deer use these areas. Unfortunately, feral hogs also appreciate the management, so he traps them on a regular basis. 

Since he started managing his property, Mr. Harvey has become a Louisiana Certified Prescribed Burner and has spoken at several meetings, including the LA Prescribed Fire Council. He promotes the use of prescribed burning and encourages private landowners to use prescribed fire. He is supporting efforts to establish a Prescribed Burn Association in his area and has hosted a local garden club to observe the native wildflowers in his understory.

For his many activities promoting and managing wildlife habitat, as well as his local stewardship outreach efforts, Mr. Harvey Kieffer is a model conservation champion for the Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture