5/7/2012
Reed Hollinshead
ITD Communication
208-334-8881
reed.hollinshead@itd.idaho.gov
Farmable slopes are efficient use of funds, land
LEWISTON - In agricultural areas like Idaho, utilizing every square foot of available farmland is paramount. Creating more tillable land and safeguarding taxpayer funds in the process is a winning combination.
In farming communities throughout the state, the Idaho Transportation Department frequently enters into a “farmable slopes” agreement. Although the specific details may differ from one location to another, the benefit remains the same: maximizing available farmland where appropriate and fostering good public-private relationships.
This project also aligns with Governor Otter's Project 60 goals to foster economic growth, and with the transportation department’s mission to promote economic opportunity, safety on the highways, and mobility options for drivers while incorporating innovative business practices.
Tens of thousands of ITD dollars are spent each year to seed, fertilize, mulch and weed slopes adjacent to construction projects. Flattening the slopes so that local landowners can farm them alleviates that need and has no cost to ITD. Farmed slopes also are more stable and less likely to erode.
In the rich, fertile areas of the Idaho north-central panhandle around Lewiston, ITD is using a variation of the farmable slopes program on Idaho 162 this summer, on a five-mile stretch of very narrow roadway that stretches through the Nezperce and Kamiah areas.
Click here for a photo of a location on U.S. 95 between Grangeville and Cottonwood where a farmable slopes project was built in 2005. This is a picture of a farmable slopes project on U.S. 6 between U.S. 95 and the Washington border north of Moscow.
In widening the roadway, the department would need to buy and then maintain right-of-way near the highway. Instead, ITD started discussions with landowners about a year and half ago regarding the possibility of a farmable slopes agreement.
In the farmable slopes agreement on Idaho 162 this summer, the department will flatten the farmer’s land where it approaches the highway, then put the top layer of rich soil back. In other cases, ITD allows the landowner to farm the right-of-way area, and in return, the farmer provides the upkeep on the land. In both cases, the benefit to the landowner is more farmable land. ITD benefits by not having to commit state maintenance resources to upkeep the land; the farmer is responsible.
The department entered into agreements with 8-10 property owners along that stretch of road to alleviate the cost of right-of-way purchase as ITD flattens the slopes into a 25-percent grade to make the land farmable. ITD also will pay a damaged-crop fee to the landowner that first year.
“The land is maintained in a productive manner that is good for farmers and the overall economy, instead of being a draw on state resources to maintain in a non-productive use,” said ITD Lewiston-area District Engineer Jim Carpenter. The agreements only impact the backslope.
The flatter backslopes also help to promote greater safety for drivers by minimizing snow drifting and improving visibility along the highway.
ITD’s District 2 office in Lewiston has utilized a farmable slopes agreement about 5-6 times in the last 10 years, mostly on realignments, passing lane projects and minor widening.
“We often use this technique on projects where we want to widen shoulders, improve sight distance or have a small curve improvement,” said ITD’s Curtis Arnzen, project development engineer for that region.
ITD also reduced the amount of time it takes for projects to be ready for construction by eliminating the right-of-way process from the project schedule. Purchasing the land routinely takes a year or two, so when that time period is eliminated from the schedule, the taxpayer is able to drive on the improved road much sooner.
“In many cases, the landowners don’t want to sell the right-of-way, and they are more than happy entering into the agreement for farmable slopes,” said Arnzen. “They are usually quite pleased with the final product as well.”
Although the farmable sloping idea is a good one, it is not always possible. It would not work if the landowner is not interested in maintenance of the right-of-way, or if there is a physical fence on the land. ITD would require the fence to be at the ROW line, and since there is no real benefit from the landowner, they likely would not be interested in the slope flattening.
Although it would appear that the farmer should always be in favor of the slope flattening because it creates more farmable land, that is not always the case.
“Sometimes the landowners are worried that the soil they would receive may not be as good as the soil presently at the surface,” Arnzen said.
To alleviate that fear, Arnzen said they always “strip the topsoil and place the farmers’ own soil back on the slope when finished.”