Inland Northwest Land Conservancy announces permanent protections of 300 acres dubbed ‘Quail Haven’

Roughly 300 acres that is a stone’s throw from the Washington-Idaho border will remain a vibrant natural area, according to a Wednesday announcement from the Inland Northwest Land Conservancy.

The vast natural space, located near Blossom Mountain in Idaho’s Mica Peak range, is now protected from development under a conservation easement spurred by longtime property owner Cindy Mead. Mead’s family has stewarded the property for years, and it is rife with flora and fauna she adores, according to a release from the conservation group.

“At some point, if we want wildlife around, we have to give them a place to be,” Mead said in a written statement included in the release. “I grew up walking these hills with my dad. I don’t want to see it broken up or lose the healthy forest and wildlife that make it special.”

Dubbed “Quail Haven,” the conservation group did not disclose the property’s exact location to avoid attracting visitors, said spokeswoman Maria Vandervert. The land is not open to public access; the conservation easement establishes that future development will not occur on the site, which is an area that is rapidly growing, Vandervert said.

“Three-hundred acres is no small property,” Vandervert said. “We look for larger ones that fall within our priority areas, that will receive the biggest benefit If we do preserve them for the long term.”

The agreement was originally backed by federal funding, but those moneys were “unexpectedly cut,” the release states. Local community members Cory, Eric and Mark Odegard stepped up to help fill the gaps and ensure Quail Haven was protected.

“One modest gift can make a substantial impact,” said Mark Odegard, who works as a senior associate with consulting firm Measure Meant. “INLC is preserving land that will never be developed, and that’s vital for the health of our region. The results are visible – you can see the land, walk its ridges, and know it’s protected in perpetuity.”

Each conservation easement can be a little different, said Mike Crabtree, conservation director for Inland Northwest Land Conservancy.

“These conservation agreements we do, the easements, set a playbook or a list of rules that can happen and cannot happen on the property,” Crabtree said.

Some require forest management plans, ban development or set out plans for the land to become a public park. The group works with landowners to help set the parameters of what the future of a given property will be, he said.

Although there is no public access, Crabtree said the conservation project still provides public benefit. It ensures clean water, protects the ecological systems that help define the region’s character, provides greenspace for carbon sequestration and devotes habitat for several species whose populations are low, declining or threatened, including olive-sided flycatchers, Townsend’s big-eared bat and monarch butterflies.

Quail Haven serves as a habitat and movement corridor for cougars, deer, elk, moose, black bears, raptors and songbirds. The property south of Post Falls spans upland and riparian habitats, dry and mesic coniferous forests and pockets of aspen and birch, the release states.