Dr. Jann Holwick is a physician from Los Angeles, California. In 1989, she purchased a 960-acre farm in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Four years later, Dr. Holwick left the West Coast and relocated to West Virginia. Since then, she has leased out her farmland for production.

Dr. Holwick's farm has an area of irregular limestone in which erosion has produced fissures, sinkholes, underground streams, and caverns. This is known as a karst. The karst ecosystem supports 22 cave-restricted endemic species including beetles, millipedes, spiders, snails, crayfish, salamanders, amphipods (also known as cave shrimp), and pseudoscorpions

"I truly desire to protect the four cave entrances, two sinking streams, several spring seeps feeding into the caves, and dozens of sinkholes found on the land," said Dr. Holwick. "I also want to allow farming to continue on nearby cropland. CREP can help me accomplish this."

The combined forces of USDA's Farm Service Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the West Virginia Division of Forestry, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, the West Virginia Chapter of Nature Conservancy, the Greenbrier Valley Conservation District, and the West Virginia Conservation Agency enabled Dr. Holwick to achieve her goal.

In December 2003, Greenbrier County Farm Service Agency County Executive Director Norman Ahern worked with Dr. Holwick. Ahern helped her enroll 6.9 acres into a 15-year CREP contract. As a result, three miles of fencing were installed. Through the program, a sensitive ecosystem was protected while agricultural production continued.

Norman Ahern was an employee of the Farm Service Agency for over forty years. He enjoyed assisting the producers of Greenbrier County on a daily basis. Ahern lived to interact with the farmers. "Assisting Dr. Holwick was not only a job duty but a pleasure," said Ahern. "CREP contracts such as Dr. Holwick's are a good example of FSA's success."

Ahern has recently retired from the Farm Service Agency. "The hardest part of retiring from the Farm Service Agency after 42 years of service is losing my interactions with the local farmers," Ahern concluded.

Karst on West Virginia farm supports 22 cave-restricted endemic species.

Dr. Holwick enrolled the 6.9-acre karst area in CREP. The remainder of her farm is leased out for production.