Landowners and farmers have implemented stewardship practices to protect the Chesapeake Bay and some of these people do not even realize they have done it! An effort is currently underway to catalog all the voluntary set-back and surface water protection practices farmers and landowners have implemented with no government payment or assistance. If you own land along a creek, stream, or river where you maintain a permanent vegetative cover and you keep fertilizers and livestock away from the stream bank please consider reporting this acreage.
Virginia has made significant progress improving the Chesapeake Bay’s water quality and ecosystem over the past four decades. The Federal Clean Water Act of 1972 mandates Virginia and other states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed demonstrate progress toward improving the Bay’s water quality. Many landowners and farmers have participated in government-funded surface water protection projects and the cataloging of these projects allow scientists to estimate improvements to water quality.
But many landowners and farmers manage their waterside fields in a manner that protects surface water sources without government guidance or input and consequently these undocumented efforts are missed in the Federal assessment of the job Virginia is doing to protect the Bay. If you are a landowner or farmer with a spring, creek, streams, or river on your property and you do not use or allow fertilizers or animal manures within ten or more feet of this water source, there is a confidential survey to which you can report this stewardship and assist Virginia in avoiding Federally mandated oversight.
You can access the survey by going to rockbridge.ext.vt.edu where you will see a banner close to the top if the page that reads “Farmers of Rockbridge County: Your soil and water conservation efforts matter. Make them count.” Clicking on this statement takes you to the survey. If you only have a few acres of permanent grass or trees and grass along a water course that is used for hay, pollinator habitat, hunting, or other recreation then it also is working as a vegetative buffer that helps protect our water resources.
Documenting these sites allows Virginia to fully account for our stewardship efforts. The survey is designed to accommodate a wide range of farming operations so the questions can be extensive but if you only have one type of acreage report (permanent grass or other perineal vegetative cover) you should be able to complete the survey quickly. Providing your name with your survey response is optional and your columnist is glad to assist you in completing the survey and can conduct it over the phone.
You can reach me, Tom Stanley, at the Rockbridge Extension office, at (540) 4634734 or send email to stanleyt@ vt.edu to find out more about this important effort to document Virginia’s effort to protect the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
