Harry Morse photos -Fish and Game helps a private land owner in Montpelier interseed his acres with food and cover plants for deer and upland game.

MONTPELIER - The tractor putts along, its plow easily turning over the damp soil. Tiny seeds are dropped into the furrows and soil is pulled over it with a dragging chain. Another day on the farm, right?

Not quite, this is a different type of farming operation. It is farming for mule deer and upland birds. And it is being done by Idaho Fish and Game in cooperation with private land owners like George Lane.

The idea is that by helping private landowners revitalize their Conservation Reserve Program lands, it will help revitalize deer herds. Better winter food is something deer are always seeking.

"Over 150 mule deer use my property in the winter," says Lane "If interseeding the CRP will help wildlife from deer to birds I am all for it."

CRP is a federally funded program to retire highly erodible acres. It pays a rental rate to farmers for a 10-year period to put their land into grass and shrub cover. Only a certain percentage of a county's agricultural ground may be in CRP. Eligibility for the program is based on erodibility, cover planted and benefits to wildlife. One of its greatest benefits is the creation of wildlife habitat. Thousands of acres are enrolled in southern Idaho.

Lane's CRP is getting a proverbial shot in the arm with the planting of a new mixture of seeds. Depending on what type of plants prosper in the CRP over a 5, 10 or 15-year period, they can provide excellent food and cover, or be a stand of grass that is of little use and provides few wildlife benefits. Deer and upland birds love a mixture of plants that provide protein, forage and cover. Some plants grown from the original seeding mix do exceedingly well for a short time but are eventually edged out by other less wildlife-friendly plants.

The tractor's putt, putt, putt ends and habitat technician J.R. Zazweta climbs down and gives an involuntary shake. It is cold, about 25 degrees, and the Fish and Game tractor doesn't have a cab or even a heater.

"This is called highland interseeding, we are doing it for the mule deer initiative," says Zazweta. "We are planting some forbs and shrubs like milk vetch, sweet clover, penstemon and four-wing saltbrush."

These are plants preferred by deer and upland game. They are being planted in the fall so the seeds can lay dormant, gather moisture from the snow melt off and germinate. This is a good time to plant and it fits well with Zazweta's busy spring schedule.

Shane King, Mule Deer Initiative coordinator confirms that revitalizing the shrub and forb component improves CRP land making it more valuable to a variety of wildlife species like deer and upland game birds. He says that Southern Idaho has extensive CRP acreage and anything we can do to help benefit wildlife; especially mule deer is worth trying.

As darkness falls deer start venturing out into Lane's CRP. They don't know or care about federal programs or fancy titles. They are just looking for food. Winter is long in Montpelier and snows and zero degree days are coming. They sniff at the fresh furrows looking for food, something the interseeding is trying to provide.