Posted on 07/21/2004 1:20:14 AM PDT by The Other Harry
July 21, 2004
Shielding streams from cattle, runoff
By BOB STUART The News Virginian
A new agricultural buffer program in the Shenandoah Valley, led by two major conservation groups, hopes to succeed like Swoope farmer Charles Drumheller has with his conservation efforts.
The Shenandoah Project, coordinated by both the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service, has a one-year goal to attract 100 Valley farmers and landowners to the program.
The mission: get those farmers to install 1,100 acres of forested stream buffers. The payback: farmers can recoup 75 percent to 100 percent of their costs of the program.
Drumheller is not part of the program but started buffers on his Swoope cattle farm a couple of years ago to lessen stream pollution. For that he won a regional conservation award.
The Swoope cattle farmer has fenced in 55 acres of his property and been reimbursed by a separate federal-state program called the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program.
The fencing keeps cattle out of streams where they otherwise would defecate and pollute the water with bacteria and nutrients. The streams on his property flow into Augusta County’s Middle River, which flows into the Shenandoah River. Eventually, the water works its way to the Chesapeake Bay.
Thousands of trees also were planted on Drumheller’s 400-acre farm to serve as future buffers against agricultural runoff.
In addition, he has dug a well and has 10 watering areas on his land for his 125 head of cattle.
Drumheller said Tuesday he is pleased with the short-term benefits.
"I can look at the creek now, and it’s as clear as a Coors beer commercial,’’ he said. "And the cattle’s health is better."
Drumheller was recognized a year ago by the Shenandoah River Basin with an award for his conservation efforts.
Cleaner water in the streams and rivers of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and safer agricultural practices are two of the goals of the Shenandoah Project.
Chuck Epes, a Virginia spokesman for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said lowering the agricultural runoff in the Valley will lower nutrient pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.
The bay’s nutrient pollution is chiefly nitrogen and phosphorous from farm manure, fertilizer and sewage-treatment plant discharges.
"These [conservation] practices benefit the Shenandoah River, the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay,’’ Epes said. "The bottom line is that the Shenandoah Valley has been identified as a major source of water pollution, and much of it comes from agricultural sources.’’
Robert Whitescarver is the Natural Resources Conservation Service conservationist for Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County.
He said while the forested buffers will take years to grow, it is important for farmers to start now.
"We have the highest concentration of livestock in the state in the Valley and the least amount of forested buffers,’’ he said.
And Whitescarver said besides fencing and trees, farmers also can consider grass buffers. Valley communities need the buffers as much as the Chesapeake Bay, he said.
Valley cities and towns such as Elkton, Harrisonburg and Front Royal get their drinking water directly from rivers that flow through those communities, Whitescarver explained.
He said such an area dependence on the rivers makes it even more important "we clean up our own backyard."
Whitescarver and Kevin Craun, a Weyers Cave farmer, will coordinate the Shenandoah project.
Their plan is to a hold a series of meetings with Shenandoah Valley farmers in the next few months and show them successful buffer projects such as Drumheller’s.
"We’ll try to recruit and have tours,’’ he said. "A lot of people do not understand the program."
Chesapeake Bay ping
Shenandoah Valley ping
Another way to waste taxpayers money, I bet a lot of it gets diverted into left-wing radical activist groups pockets' too.
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