Mulliniks said he thinks Marshall County has to plan in a smart
way to make sure the rural character isn’t lost like it has been in
Nashville and Brentwood and Franklin.
“If we aren’t careful, we’re going to be next,” said Mulliniks.
To do his part in preserving the beautiful countryside in his homeplace, Mulliniks started planting hardwood trees in 2005. He said he
was naïve and tried to do too much himself at first. His way resulted in a 90 percent loss of trees. He laughs about it now, but he said
at the time, he was so discouraged that he thought of giving up many
times. He said a lot of people thought he was crazy for trying to plant
so many hardwoods, but he just stuck to his guns and kept trying.
That’s where Mandy Cash comes into the picture. Cash is the district conservationist with the Natural Resource Conservation Service.
“Mandy just made everything easy,” said Mulliniks. “I found out I
didn’t have to do this on my own and it was a relief.”
The biggest problem facing the tree idea was degraded land and
destructive wildlife. Mulliniks was trying to plant hardwood trees
in places that weren’t well suited for them, like on steep slopes or in
areas where a lot of dairy sewage and toxic materials had been stored
for decades before he cleared the farmland. He didn’t know how to
control the weed growth that was choking out his trees. He didn’t
know a lot of things, he says in hindsight.
Cash was able to connect Mulliniks’ needs and challenges with
the right government program. Using funding available through the
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Cash was able
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to guide the tree planting idea through the process that resulted not
only in funding for tree planting but technical expertise to help it succeed.
Government agencies split up responsibilities which means
Mulliniks has to engage with three different entities: the Natural
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