Bobby Whitescarver on Soil Conservation
Here in Swoope it’s been raining for three days – we’ve had 10.5 inches of rain. Our Middle River has been out in its flood plain for the third day in a row. Flood waters have completely covered much of our pasture and our single strand of electric fence that keeps our cattle out [...]
A watershed moment for the Shenandoah River and the Chesapeake Bay occurred on Tuesday the 23rd of April. Ownership of the former Virginia National Golf Course located on the banks of the Shenandoah River in Clark County was handed over to Shenandoah University . Dr. Tracy Fitzsimmons, President of the University said during a press conference at [...]
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation asked me to write several articles about farmers doing their part to improve the soil and water resources on their farms. These articles are designed to showcase how and why, these farmers installed Best Management Practices such as “stream-side fencing” to exclude livestock from streams. The article on this post is [...]
When converting grasslands to forest it has been a common practice to plant bare-root, hardwood tree seedlings directly into the sod. Most recently tree shelters have been used to increase the growth rate and survival of hardwood (not pine) tree seedlings. Shelters are recommended in Virginia’s Hardwood Tree Planting Guide. Many wonder, “are they worth it?” [...]
This week’s flood prompted this post on how we deal with floodwater from our river with our cattle. It was an out-of-bank flood event but it didn’t wash our cattle crossing out because we’ve learned to work with the river not against it. Middle River is a tributary of the South Fork of the Shenandoah [...]
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), the Bay states, the District of Columbia, federal agencies and thousands of volunteers including teachers and farmers have been working to restore the Chesapeake Bay since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972. There are many successes. For example many of the localities in the watershed have the [...]
Note: This post is expressly written for public servants. I spent 31 years in public service. Yes, I was a bureaucrat. Just the mention of the “B” word makes a lot of people cringe – included myself. Many people and most politicians think of bureaucrats as lazy government employees on the public dole with too [...]
False Indigo Bush, Amorpha fruticosa – This native, leguminous shrub is one of the best riparian plants for creating wildlife habitat and improving water quality. It is fast growing and deer don’t like to eat it, so if you want success in your shrub or wildlife plantings this is a winner. We planted two year [...]
Why don’t farmers just do it? I mean fence their cattle out of the streams. If farmers would do this one practice, at least in the Shenandoah River watershed, agriculture would probably be finished with its part of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL. Excluding livestock from streams is possibly the single most effective Best Management Practice [...]