The gift of the Kootenai River Valley

Shortly after receiving his degree in Forestry from the University of Idaho, Clifty View Nursery founder, Lonnie Merrifield, began to plant seedling tree crops on a small portion of his family's farm east and north a bit of Bonners Ferry. Experiencing early success, he incorporated Clifty View Nursery in 1979 contracting grown seedlings for the forest industry at large.

Today, some 36 years hence, Lonnie and son Kevin have more than 600 acres in seedlings that produce more than 120 different species of trees. Kevin Merrifield is this year’s president of the Idaho Nursery and Landscape Association (INLA).

A large portion of the Clifty View annual crop goes out to other growers as well as to commercial landscapers throughout the Pacific Northwest, including Colorado and Canada. Basically, the Clifty View trees and shrubs being "northern grown" are cold-hardy.

The quality of the soil is a factor in the valley’s horticultural industry, but climate, according to Kevin, is the number one reason for such abundant success. The Kootenai River drainage experiences warm to hot summers and cold winters down to -10 degrees Fahrenheit on average. That’s the perfect range for growing seed stock suitable for nearly anywhere in the Rocky Mountains and other western mountain belts. Add to that the abundance of mountain water and good labor and you have the four primary reasons for a strong industry.

The Clifty View seedling crops include a wide variety of deciduous trees, shrubs and conifers as well as a newly patented, now trademarked aspen variety, called Dancing Flame. Lonnie was one of the first growers in America to successfully reproduce aspen. Dancing Flame is a patented cross between Swedish aspen and the western quaking aspen. Its beautiful fall colors remind even the casual observer of a flame fanning in the wind, hence the name and popularity of this Clifty View original. As a prized ornamental tree, Dancing Flame has shown itself resistant to Shepherd's Crook, a disease common to quaking aspen.

Lonnie and Kevin are meticulous farmers; employing 70 to 80 skill workers in peak seasons and maintaining 10 to 15 in the off seasons. Between trade shows, planting, watering, weeding, digging of seedlings, sorting, shipping and on the long term, pruning and disease control, they are always busy.

A trustworthy supply of abundant water is one of the keys to their success. Clifty View’s 600 acres of nursery land are fed by two year-round surface streams and backed up by two deep wells. Water is certainly important, especially in a drought year like 2015. Merrifields have acquired a number of water rights (and more land) to ensure that Clifty View would never run dry.

One key, Kevin said, to conserving water is their use of dust mulching between rows of seedlings, through all stages of growth. Dust mulching is essentially the continual raking of the surface to keep weeds down. Weeds of course compete for nutrients and water. Weeds, infiltrating the dense seedlings rows, are also hand-pulled by skilled staff. But the dust mulching creates a broken surface of soil which helps prevent undue water loss as the sun-dried, broken surface inhibits water evaporation into the air.

Farms like Clifty View can produce up to 4,000 trees per acre if managed correctly, depending of course on soil conditions and water supply. The glacial-silt, sandy loam of the Kootenai River Valley seems designed handily for tree growers by the Purcell Trench glaciers of old, in part due to the lack of rock in the soil, perfect for tree and seedling growth. Add to that the belt of seasonal sunshine created for the valley when the Selkirk mountains pull the majority of rain and snow from the clouds before they can dump on the Kootenai, much in the same manner that the Rockies absorb most of the moisture-laden weather before it gets to the Great Plains.

Certainly there are other quality arborists in the Bonners Ferry area who are both meticulous and prideful about the quality of the seedlings. Two prominent growers of this ilk, both growing their products north of 3-Mile, are Trees R Us (Tad & Sheila Hansen) and Panhandle Nursery Inc., (Rod & Barbara Lepoidevin).

How Much Land Do I Need for a Tree Nursery?

Even a small acreage of one to five or 10 acres can produce a handsome seedling stock, but the larger growers pretty much dominate the market and are better suited to profitable marketing and supplying of the demand. So there are other, better ways to make a living on a lesser amount of ground.

The University of Idaho has a wonderful educational program now available to Panhandle residents called Starting Your Sustainable Small Farm in Idaho. This is truly worth checking into.

You can contact the Extension Agents through amsnyder@uidaho.edu or call 509.339.5894.

You missed the spring session startup, but they will be delighted to send you information for the next round and plug you into all the necessary educational programs they provide.

The farming of trees in the Kootenai Valley is only one of the many possibilities rural landowners have for utilizing their land. Recreational use, such as a hunting cabin in the woods, or a fishing camp by a stream or river (or even near one) are popular. But wood lots and wood lot management are another. And of course, agricultural use includes the raising of farm animals for food and for sale. Many landowners with cleared ground choose hay as a primary crop and they never lack a place to sell it, especially in this last very dry season where most hay growers harvested only one round due to the lack of moisture.

If you take anything away from this article, aside from a little more knowledge of how, why and what all those tree plantations are all about, take this: North Idaho is a rich land, bountiful in resources with lots of open-space and publicly accessible mountains. The water is clean, the air is pure and the opportunities for are abundant for the innovative, the creative and the willing.

Dwayne Parsons is a Realtor for Century 21 Beutler & Associates in Coeur d’Alene working primarily Boundary and Bonner counties. He can be contacted at dparsons@21goldchoice.com.

#local #lifecommunity