Project Spotlight: Tioga County Highlights

By: Tioga County SWCD, Owego, NY, USC Member

Streamside Conservation on a Local Farm

What was the SWCD’s role in the project?: Tioga SWCD planned, sought grant funding and coordinated the implementation of the project.

Project Description: This farm chose to enroll land in FSA’s CREP Program with a riparian forest buffer practice. Riparian forest buffers are the trees and shrubs on the stream banks. These plants provide soil stabilization with their roots which keep soil from eroding. Buffers also reduce the impacts of floods and provide natural filtration of nutrients and pollutants. Buffers additionally provide valuable habitats for ecosystems. The CREP program provides most of the cost to plant trees and shrubs and cost-shares some fence and waterline to exclude livestock from the stream and provide an alternate watering source. FSA and Tioga Soil and Water teamed up to use CREP and USC Water Quality Funding to help this farm install fence and a watering system on 15 acres of pasture and plant 11.3 acres of forested riparian buffer along the stream. Soil and Water was awarded USC funding to cover what CRP couldn’t, as that program only covers waterline and fence along the stream to keep livestock out. Using both funding programs, a functional pasture system could be built while also addressing water quality with the buffer. The farm provided cost-share to the grants by building the fence/watering system and doing brush management to prepare the site for planting. As part of the grant contracts, the farm also agreed to maintenance the buffer by mowing around the plants for a few years while they get established to prevent the taller vegetation from shading out and/or falling on top of the plants which kills them.

On-Farm Vernal Pool Construction & Volunteer Riparian Forest Buffer Planting

What was the SWCD’s role in the project?: Tioga SWCD planned, sought grant funding and coordinated the implementation of the project.

 Project Description: On a foggy Saturday morning in October 2019 volunteers from the Ranch Riders 4-H Club and the Owego Rotary Club met at a farm to plant trees and shrubs along a stream. The owners of this beef farm have a long history of protecting natural resources on their property and managing their farm with good environmental stewardship. They embarked on a project with Tioga County Soil and Water Conservation District and the Upper Susquehanna Coalition to extend the riparian forest buffer along their stream, create vernal pool habitat and add onto the existing rotational grazing system for livestock. The USC constructed the vernal pool adjacent to the stream and buffer to provide diverse wildlife habitats. The NY State DEC Trees for Tributaries program was utilized for the buffer planting stock and materials. The planting stock was received by the District in spring 2019 and potted up for the summer by the Ranch Riders 4-H Club. It was a great experience for the kids to help pot up the small bare root stock in the spring and then plant that same stock that grew all summer in the buffer. They enjoyed seeing how their hard work had paid off and what the final product was. The volunteers made quick work of planting the 100 trees and shrubs in the riparian buffer and then enjoyed a picnic lunch in the buffer.

On-Farm Berm Removal, Riparian Buffer Planting, and Grazing System

What was the SWCD’s role in the project?: Tioga SWCD planned, sought grant funding and coordinated the implementation of the project.

 Project Description: Nestled in a valley in the Town of Owego sits a local county beef farm. Running through the beef operation is Little Nanticoke Creek, a tributary to the Susquehanna River. The owner and operator of the farm, preaches the importance of soil health to all those around, and his farm echoes this message. A rigid grazing plan is kept to ensure his cattle are 100% grass-fed, keeps tabs on his soil biota, and continues to improve forage quality through various no-tilled pasture mixes. Most recently he acquired adjacent farmland that has been traditionally row cropped for many years which he plans to convert to permanent grasses for grazing. This spring he installed a five acre riparian forest buffer with cattle exclusion on both sides of the 1,400 feet stream reach on this new property. In order to implement this buffer, a berm on either side of the constrained stream needed to be removed. Once the floodplain was reconnected to the stream, a buffer was planned out with a minimum width of 35 feet, extending in some areas to 70 feet. This buffer will reduce runoff of nutrients and sediment into Little Nanticoke Creek creating a healthier ecosystem in the stream, as well as, the Chesapeake Bay. As a result of implementing a riparian forest buffer, the farm was also able to install 11,000 feet of fencing and 4,800 feet of waterline for three watering systems throughout his newly acquired 65 acres surrounding the stream.