Brian and Jennifer Cornett love their rural property southwest of Fontana, and they’re always looking for ways to improve it. They enjoy the property’s natural beauty, and they work to fight off invasive species and maintain an inviting habitat for local wildlife. They’ve planted monarch habitats, used the environmental quality incentives program, known as EQUIP, to make timber stand improvements, or TSI on their property. TSI is a forest management practice that involves removing certain trees like red cedars and bradford pears from a stand to improve the health of the other trees.
He has planted walnut trees along the banks of a stream on his property for erosion control. The trees also provide a habitat for local wildlife, which include deer, turkey and songbirds. They are working to improve plum thickets on their property, which are dense areas of plum trees or shrubs that provide food and shelter for wildlife.
Their work has earned them the Miami County Conservation District Bankers Award for Wildlife Habitat. The Cornetts will receive their award during the Conservation District’s Annual Dinner Wednesday, January 29th, at Paola High School.
