| Contact Information | Date |
|---|---|
| For Immediate Release Contact: Buck Kline 434.220.9035 |
Feb. 19, 2010 VDOF-10009 |
Healthy Watershed Through a Healthy Forest Initiative
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities has awarded the Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) a $400,000 grant to introduce a sustainable forestry demonstration project in Central Virginia's South Fork Rivanna River Reservoir Watershed that will link landowners' financial interests and their forestland management practices in this area to urban consumers of the municipal water supply to influence landowner behavior in a way that reduces the costs of both urban and rural users of the water resource.
The three-year project in Albemarle County will educate local governments, businesses, environmental entities and landowners on the value of forests and the ecosystem services they provide. Special emphasis will be placed on the environmental value-added contributions that occur when investing in natural infrastructure versus engineered technologies.
“Expensive, engineered technologies address the pollutant of concern,” said Buck Kline, VDOF's director of forestland conservation, “but often contribute little to improving other environmental values, such as air quality, biodiversity or carbon sequestration. This project will move beyond basic research to increase forest cover and the ecosystem services forests provide.”
The services of greatest interest are water quality (sediment and nutrient load reduction) and carbon sequestration. Virginia's Nutrient Credit Trading Program recognizes that establishing new forest cover through afforestation generates a nutrient load reduction (nitrogen and phosphorus) credit larger than any other offset practice.
The South Fork Rivanna Reservoir is the principal water source for 82,000 people in the Charlottesville area, and its watershed supplies approximately 96 percent of the surface water supply for the area, yet most of the property in the watershed is privately owned. The goal of this program is to maintain and expand forest cover in the watershed.
“Landowners who participate will receive long-term cash payments for increasing forest cover through afforestation on their property,” Kline said. Afforestation is the practice of planting new forests on lands that are currently open.
“We will also use one-time cash payments for conservation easements that protect working forests; stream restoration work done in conjunction with forester buffers, and complete stabilization of forest harvest sites,” Kline said
Project partners include: VDOF; Conserv; Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority; Albemarle County Service Authority; Rivanna River Basin Commission; Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District; Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission; City of Charlottesville; County of Albemarle, as well as watershed landowners and businesses. The “Forests to Faucets Advisory Council” will offer technical and policy support to VDOF and Conserv.
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The Virginia Department of Forestry protects and develops healthy, sustainable forest resources for Virginians. Headquartered in Charlottesville, the Agency has forestry staff members assigned to every county to provide service to citizens of the Commonwealth. VDOF is an equal opportunity provider.
With nearly 16 million acres of forestland and more than 144,000 Virginians employed in forestry, forest products and related industries, Virginia forests provide more than $27.5 Billion annually in benefits to the Commonwealth.
