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Nibley's farms and open space threatened by land developers
By Kevin Nielsen
April 28, 2005 | NIBLEY -- Elkhorn
Ranch, the first pioneer settlement in Cache Valley,
originally included part of what is now Nibley. In the
first winter there about three-fourths of the cattle
died because of the elements.
Now cattle and dairy cows are diminishing in Nibley
not because of the weather but the development. Larry
Ahnders, a Nibley resident who as a hobby raises cattle,
calls the many farms in Nibley "farms in transition,"
once the price gets high enough most everyone will sell
their land.
The major reason the farms are transitioning is the
growth Cache Valley is experiencing. Conservative estimates
in Nibley alone are for 75 new homes a year, which has
already been passed in the first few months of this
year.
Ahnders has just sold the house he has lived in since
1986 when he bought about 125 acres in Nibley. He remembers
fondly the times when he didn't have a paved road and
there was hardly anyone around. Now he has a subdivision
to the south and another one being built to the north
of his land. He is renting a home as he is currently
building a house in one of the new subdivisions that
dot the Nibley horizon.
All of the fields in Nibley no longer end in the horizon
but in the back lots of somebody's new home. It's only
a matter of time before the casual farmers or the children
of the casual farmers would rather take developer's
money than suffer through the economic downfalls of
a farmer.
Even though some of Ahnders' Holsteins are currently
at record prices, he said he doesn't know how some people
can live off just a dairy farm or raising cattle. Even
with 500 to 800 head on a dairy farm Ahnders said it
can be difficult to compete in the market, as many major
dairies can have 5,000 head of cattle.
Many people have farms or ranches but few use them
as their sole source of income, Ahnders said. He added
that his 100 head of cattle covers itself and he keeps
it around just for something to do when he's retired.
"I'll spend the winters in St. George and feed the
cattle up here during the summer," Ahnders said.
Of all the problems that arise from taking away farms
and putting in homes, open space is getting the most
coverage in the Legislature and city councils. Rural
vistas of tractors in fields will never go away but
being able to see how planted fields look as you drive
by, might end up being a vacation spot rather than a
pleasant touch of Cache Valley.
Unfortunately, everyone has a different definition
for what open space is. Farmers think it is farmland,
others say its undeveloped land and yet others would
lump it in with parks and other protected pieces of
land.
Nibley Councilman Scott Wells said the only way to
ensure open space will be around is for the cities to
buy up land for parks or just to dedicate it to be open
space. In which case, the battle for open space would
become a bidding war between the cities or counties
and the developers and it's pretty obvious the developers
would win out in that scenario.
With all of the changes going on it takes time to
figure out which way things should go and so it is now
when there are many options to solve the conflict between
farming and development.
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