Cattle Exclusion Mandate From Perennial Streams in Virginia
Virginia legislators and its governor are proposing a cattle exclusion mandate from all perennial streams by July 1, 2026.
Livestock Exclusion: Is It Time for the Big R?
Breaking the barrier: Ideas for increasing participation in voluntary livestock stream exclusion Livestock exclusion from streams? Is it time for the big R—regulation? Livestock, especially cattle, are the number one polluter of streams in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. They destroy the aquatic ecosystem by dislodging soil, trampling the streambed,...
Frozen Water in the Livestock Trough
Ruminations – Swoope Almanac November 2017
This is a sifting of writings and ruminations for the year 2017:
Riparian Buffer Management – Control Invasives, Encourage Natives
As summer moves closer to autumn it seems there are more native plants in the various riparian buffers we have around the farm. Butterfly weed, jewelweed, wingstem, purpletop, and many other plants are in bloom now. However; there are many invasive, non-native plants in bloom as well. Invasive Species Control...
America’s Largest Conservation Program on Hold
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...
Cattle Destroy Streams
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....
Trees Remove E. Coli Pollution From Streams
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”.
