The Loudoun Soil and Water Conservation District will be offering a number of rain barrel workshops this spring.  Residents can come make a rain barrel to take home or purchase one already made.  Workshops are scheduled for the following:

Saturday, May 4, 9-11 a.m. at Lucketts Community Center Pavilion in Lucketts.Lucketts Rain Barrel Registration Form

Tuesday and Wednesday, May 14 and 15, 6:00 p.m. at Tuscarora Creek park in Leesburg (pre-registration required)  Leesburg Registration Form

The workshops are open to all Loudoun residents.  Find the date and location that works best for your schedule, complete the registration form and send in with your check made payable to Loudoun SWCD.  The cost of a make-your-own rain barrel is $57.75, (including tax)  and a pre-made barrel is $73.50, (including tax).  If you have any questions, please give us a call at (571) 918-4530.

Private residential, industrial, commercial, and Homeowner Association (HOA) landowners in Loudoun are all eligible to apply for funds to plant buffers along perennial (year-round) streams and water bodies. An effective technique for improving water quality, this program reimburses landowners for planting materials and labor costs. Conservation Technician Chris Van Vlack will brief workshop attendees about the project’s planting options and application deadlines. This project complements the existing agricultural buffer planting program offered through the state Agricultural Best Management Practice (BMP) Cost-Share Program. Funding is limited and anticipated to be highly competitive, so interested landowners are strongly encouraged to attend the workshop to enhance their application opportunities.

Last spring, a total of six acres of forested riparian buffers were planted through the program in Loudoun by HOAs. These buffers help filter pollutants from stormwater runoff, which improves water quality for humans and wildlife and makes streams, creeks, and rivers safer for recreation. Forested buffers can also reduce mowing costs and provide habitat for birds and other wildlife.

Presenters at the workshop include Chris Van Vlack, Conservation Technician, LSWCD; Jim Christian, Chairman, LSWCD; Dana Malone, Urban Forester, Loudoun County; and Laura Edmonds, Environmental Review Team Leader, Loudoun County.

The deadline for applications is March 1, 2013.   Applications should be submitted to Loudoun SWCD, Attn: Chris Van Vlack, 30 Catoctin Circle, SE., Suite H, Leesburg, VA 20175.  For more information, please contact Chris at (571) 918-4530, ext. 107.

If you have been “sitting on the fence” about installing fencing to keep your animals out of a stream, pond, or wetland, a new allocation of funding from the Commonwealth of Virginia now allows Loudoun Soil and Water Conservation District to fund up to 100 percent of the costs.  The new program covers the total cost for fencing keeping livestock out of streams (up to $4.44 a foot for fencing meeting District specifications).  When installing stream fencing, farmers and landowners also are eligible for 100 percent funding to install a water system (up to $3.00 per foot of pipeline, and $3600 per trough meeting District specifications.)

These new funds cover the additional 25% not covered by the Virginia Ag BMP Programs 75% cost share and are available on a first come first serve basis until the funds are exhausted.  This program will no doubt be very popular state-wide, so contact Loudoun SWCD now to arrange for a farm visit to see if your property qualifies.  Stream fencing helps protect water quality while the installation of a spring or well-fed watering system provides your animals with clean source of drinking water and helps better distribute grazing in your pastures.

If you’ve ever considered protecting your streams and ponds and installing a permanent frost-free watering system, now is the time!

“Improved herd health, lower vet bills, and quicker weight gain are definite economic benefits of streamside livestock exclusion,” said Chris Van Vlack, Conservation Specialist of Loudoun Soil and Water Conservation District.

In addition, stream fencing prevents leg injuries that cattle and horses may suffer on muddy banks and eliminates the possibility that cows will calve by the water, where newborns are more likely to suffer hypothermia and death.

Farm productivity increases, too. Studies have shown that when farmers provide clean water instead of letting their cattle drink from streams, animals gain more weight, more quickly and horse owners see decreases in hoof problems.

Funding from the Virginia Agricultural Best Management Practices Cost-Share Program is available to offset the costs of installing fences and alternative watering systems. In the 2012 program year, that means 75 percent of the cost of all eligible components, along with a 25 percent tax credit. Funds are also available for maintaining existing fences that are along water bodies and streams. Also, farmers can enhance the economic benefits of stream fencing by creating wooded buffers, which can also qualify for cost share funding.

In addition, Loudoun County has provided Loudoun Soil and Water Conservation District with assistance to supply stream exclusion and water system cost share funding to horse and other livestock owners who do not qualify for the state program due to having farms under five acres, or not deriving income from their operation.

Streamside livestock exclusion is one of five sets of priority agricultural best management practices promoted by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, which administers the Virginia Agricultural Best Management Practices Cost-Share Program. The Commonwealth’s 47 Soil and Water Conservation Districts administer the Virginia Cost-Share Program at the local level.

District staff can help farmers apply for many different cost-share funding programs to help implement streamside livestock exclusion best management practices. They also can identify other conservation programs for which agricultural operations of all kinds can qualify.  For more information, contact the District staff at (571) 918-4530.