One common practice rural landowners use to improve water quality is waterside plantings called riparian buffers. The plant roots help to stabilize the streambank by acting as anchors for the soil and as sponges to absorb pollutants before they reach the water. The tree canopy provides shade to keep the water cool for our native cold water aquatic species like brook trout and creates habitats for birds and other wildlife.
Establishing a healthy buffer requires significant upkeep–battling invasive species while the native plants take hold, replacing trees and plants that don’t survive and repairing damage done by floods and wildlife. Often, that’s a heavy lift for landowners and farmers.
The Alliance and new partner Appalachian Conservation Corps have worked together on a program that will reduce this maintenance barrier while also building a workforce that understands rural conservation needs. In this model, young adults 18-30 years old serve together on a paid crew of 5-8 people that seasonally performs buffer maintenance on Valley farms as a part of their technical training and hands-on experience in natural resource conservation.
Stories of Streams Through Farms.
Deepening Roots by Hammer Creek
Hammer Creek is a limestone stream in northern Lancaster County, Pa., running almost a mile through the farm where my father grew up. When my family and I moved to the farm when I was eight years old, the stream was shallow, trees growing along the banks were sparse, and stocked trout didn’t survive the warm summer water temperatures.
In the mid-1990s as money became available to help my family adopt a range of conservation practices to improve our farming operation and plant trees and shrubs along the stream bank, my connection to this creek deepened. I learned about hydrology, silt and nutrient run-off and saw conservation measures make a difference. Today, the water in our stretch of Hammer Creek is deeper, temperatures cooler and a mature buffer of native trees and shrubs grow along the banks.
This view of Hammer Creek is from the deck of the homeplace where Lee’s brother and his wife still farm. When they moved to the farm in 1978, no trees would have been visible.
Board Member Lee Good (Rockingham) practices the same water quality stewardship on land he farms in the Valley and the clean water his farming produces here joins water from Hammer Creek in the Bay.
Middle River's Natural Treasures
Walking along the banks of the Middle River running through our farm, I look up and see abundant acorns. I smile. Further along, I feel the bark of a willow oak and marvel at its height, now well over 30 feet. The Middle River begins as several springs that bubble up out of the ground six miles south of our farm in Swoope. It is nine feet wide when it gets to our property and meanders through it for a half mile.
I find lots of treasures as I walk along. In the fall, one treasure is the burnt orange plumes of Indian grass slowly dancing in the breeze. I heard a quail here earlier this year, most likely the sole survivor of the 10 pairs we released two years ago. I continue walking and flush up a family of wood ducks in the river. The summer birds have all migrated south now. Tree swallows, willow flycatchers, yellow warblers, orioles, and indigo buntings nest here in the native trees and shrubs growing along the river. We now await the arrival of the winter birds, which include several sparrow species, common snipes, and short-eared owls.
Board Member Bobby Whitescarver (Augusta) and his wife Jeanne Hoffman have a farm in Swoope with the Middle River flowing through it for half a mile. In 2004, the cows were fenced away from the river and native trees and shrubs were planted along the banks to create a riparian forest buffer.
By the Banks of Cub Run
I have a little spot along Cub Run, which runs through one of our farms, where I like to sit to watch and listen. Maybe it is special because of the soothing noise of the creek or maybe it’s the memories of our three children, who were, of course, supposed to be checking on the animals, playing here with our dogs over the years.
Cub Run at the farm after fencing out the cattle and planting about an acre of trees along the steep bank. Water monitoring stations set up by Virginia Tech on Cub Run after the work was completed show water quality is better leaving the farm than where it entered one half mile upstream.
Board Member Bob Threewitts (Rockingham) is planning a new stream restoration project for his farm in the Smith Creek Watershed.