Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley, supported by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), is launching a new effort to assist landowners with riparian forest buffer maintenance. Drawing on the diverse strengths of partners in the Shenandoah Valley Conservation Collaborative (SVCC), the project provides the hands-on support landowners need to achieve clean water goals and maintain healthy, resilient agricultural landscapes.
“We believe that better maintenance of buffers will increase planting of new buffers in our region, since 1. poorly maintained buffers are the worst marketing possible for new buffers and 2. the time and effort required to properly maintain a buffer is a well-known barrier to landowners’ decision to adopt the practice,” said Kevin Tate, Director of Conservation at Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley and SVCC Coordinator.
The Commonwealth of Virginia is supporting this maintenance through a $272,604 grant awarded to Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley on behalf of the SVCC by the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The funds from this grant will be used to maintain newly planted riparian buffers as well as older, mature riparian buffers.
Maintenance activities will include tree survival checks and replacement of dead trees, tree tube maintenance and replacement, and treatment of invasive species. SVCC intends to provide multiple years of follow-up maintenance to participating landowners, as consistent, routine maintenance of buffers has been shown to produce the best outcomes.
Eric Reiley, a rural landowner in Shenandoah County, provides an excellent example of the ways that SVCC partners and private landowners have worked together to maintain a riparian buffer on Pughs Run, a tributary of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River.
“We planted an 18-acre riparian forest buffer through the Virginia Agricultural Cost-Share (VACS) program in 2020,” explains Reiley. “I dedicated much time and effort to maintaining the planting and saw good tree survival. But by 2023, even with my dedicated efforts, pressure from invasive species, particularly Autumn Olive, threatened to out-compete the planted trees in several areas of the buffer.”
“It was simply more than I could control on my own. Through my relationship with SVCC partners, I was connected to Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley who provided financial assistance for me to hire a contractor to combat the invasive species before they took over. Follow up advice from the Department of Forestry and a visit from an Appalachian Conservation Corps maintenance crew in 2024 has helped me steward my buffer to become a maturing riparian forest.”
SVCC’s grant application included letters of support from a number of regional and state organizations, including Virginia Department of Forestry (DOF).
“The proposed project will build on many years of successful partnership. The SVCC facilitates communication and teamwork between organizations, organizes effective outreach that increases landowner recruitment, consistently overcomes barriers to best management practice installation, and creatively assists landowners with buffer maintenance,” wrote Patricia F. Nylander, Watershed Program Coordinator at DOF. “DOF staff have worked alongside SVCC for several years, and will be able to help direct landowners who may benefit from buffer maintenance on their projects to SVCC to get the work done with this funding.”
Megen Dalton, District Manager of the Shenandoah Valley Soil and Water Conservation District (SVSWCD), shared her support. “The SVSWCD has had a very successful partnership and strong working relations with the SVCC since the group’s inception. We are committed to working with farmers and rural landowners in our service area to maintain healthy riparian forest buffers along our streams, rivers, and creeks,” Dalton wrote.
“With this funding, the SVCC will have the resources to greatly expand tested and proven maintenance programs and will use guaranteed maintenance assistance as an incentive to increase landowner recruitment into riparian forest buffer planting programs.”
For more information and inquiries about participation please contact Kevin Tate (ktate@shenandoahalliance.org, 540-383-3417) or your local NRCS, SWCD, or DOF representative.