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There is so much to be thankful for this year. The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled again in our favor against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, citing The Lorax, written in 1971 by Dr. Suess. This ruling and The Lorax made national news. Rare birds stopped by Swoope on their journey north and Bald […]

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Atlantic Coast Pipeline Set To Destroy Old-Growth Forest “At least three hundred trees, older than this nation, will be destroyed if the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) comes through this ridge on our property,” Bill Limpert lamented. We were walking his part of Jack Mountain in Bath County, Virginia. I could smell the old-growth forest as […]

Frozen Water in the Trough A frozen livestock water trough is a nightmare for farmers.  Thousands of “frost-free” watering troughs have been installed as an alternative to allowing livestock access to the streams and rivers. Livestock farmers have been excluding livestock from streams and rivers for decades.  It’s one of the most effective practices for […]

Note: The text of this post became an OPED piece distributed by the Bay Journal News Service on 10/17/2017.  Click here to view or download the pdf of the article. USA Today published  it on 10/19/17

I live in such a beautiful place – It’s mostly grasslands and forests. In some places, one cannot see another dwelling in any direction. On most mornings in September, mist hugs the hollows and heavy dew blankets the ground.

America’s Most Successful and Largest Conservation Program on HOLD. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) – America’s most successful and largest conservation program on private, “working” lands is on hold, except for CREP (but not in Virginia, I’ll explain later).  Earlier this month USDA instructed its county offices to process only those applications dated prior to […]

The downstream and upstream pictures in this post were published by the Bay Journal in William Funk’s article “Virginia Faulted for Handling of Cattle Pollution in Shenandoah“. Cattle Destroy Streams and the Aquatic Ecosystem. Livestock that have access to streams and rivers pollute the water with their manure and urine.  But perhaps even worse, when […]

This blog post was modified to become an oped piece for the Bay Journal News Service.  They distributed it on March 7, 2017.  USA Today published it on March 17th as “Want a cleaner river? Keep cow pies out, plant trees”. E. Coli Cut By One Third One of the most polluted rivers in Virginia flows […]