Greetings from the Piedmont Soil and Water Conservation District (PSWCD). Some of you may wonder what a soil and water conservation district is — good question! Despite the long name, our goal is simple: to improve soil and water quality. The Piedmont SWCD is one of 47 soil and water districts in Virginia, and locally we serve Amelia, Nottoway and Prince Edward counties.

People depend on healthy soil and water for a variety of reasons: food, recreation and jobs, to name a few. Because of the importance of keeping soil and water healthy, all of our programs promote and protect soil and water quality.

In addition to hosting environmental classroom programs at local schools, we offer financial and technical assistance for the installation of “best management practices,” or BMPs. Here’s why. BMPs take into consideration the soil and water quality problems of a site and correct them with appropriate conservation projects. We offer both agricultural BMP programs as well as residential BMP programs for people interested in conservation in their own backyard.

In the farming world, the Virginia Agricultural BMP program helps farmers balance a desire to be good stewards of the land with the need to remain profitable. Agricultural BMPs improve water and soil quality, herd health and crop productivity.

Some of our most common practices include planting cover crops following harvest to keep soil and nutrients in the fields, stream exclusion to prevent cattle from drinking from streams and therefore polluting water with their manure, and the installation of watering facilities once cattle no longer have access to streams.

If you are interested in any of these voluntary agricultural conservation practices, contact Charlie Wootton at (434) 392-3782 ext. 128. Sign-up dates for the upcoming program year are July 1-Aug. 11. We expect requests for financial assistance will exceed available funding, so it is important to contact our office soon so staff can visit your property and develop a plan for your cost-share program application.

The district also offers a no-till seeder that can be rented throughout the year. The seeder drill eliminates the need for plowing before planting, instead pushing the seed into the ground through the leftover crop residue. In addition to saving time and fuel costs associated with plowing, no-till seeding reduces the loss of nutrient-rich topsoil caused by plowing, therefore producing a better crop.

Multiple crops can be planted with the drills, including warm-season grasses, rye, alfalfa and soybeans. We provide delivery and pickup within Amelia, Nottoway and Prince Edward, and technical assistance at no charge. Contact our equipment manager, Stephen Reames, at (804) 393-0246.

If you’re not a farmer but are interested in making good environmental choices around your home, we offer programs for you too. Our septic system program reduces water pollution from septic waste. Although septic systems can be easy to overlook, maintaining your system is an important part of being a homeowner. Routine maintenance such as a pump out every five years can prevent problems before they occur, therefore avoiding costly future repairs or system replacements.

Another residential conservation program called the Virginia Conservation Assistance Program (VCAP) helps control stormwater runoff that causes erosion, pooling due to poor drainage and water pollution from the chemicals and sediment picked up by rainwater. VCAP offers financial and technical assistance for BMPs such as rain gardens, rainwater-capturing cisterns, conservation landscaping and permeable pavement. To learn more, contact Deanna Fehrer at (434) 392-3782 ext. 108.

If you are interested in any of these voluntary agricultural conservation practices, contact Charlie Wootton at (434) 392-3782 ext. 128. The sign-up window for the upcoming program year spans July 1-Aug. 11. We expect requests for financial assistance will exceed available funding, so it is important to contact our office soon so that staff can visit your farm and develop a plan for your cost-share program application.

The Piedmont Soil and Water Conservation District aims to improve soil and water quality as well as the lives of Amelia, Nottoway and Prince Edward County residents. We want to encourage participation in natural resource conservation efforts that help not only you but Virginia’s environment as a whole. Healthy soil and water are connected to a thriving community, and we invite you to join us in that effort.

Emily Gibbs is the Residential Conservation and Marketing Coordinator at Piedmont Soil & Water Conservation. You can contact her at (434) 392-3782 ext. 131 or visit www.piedmontswcd.org.