Invasive species are plants, animals, insects, or other organisms that are not native to our region and tend to spread aggressively, disrupting the balance of the natural world where they become established. Without their natural predators, invasives often outcompete native species and can have devastating ecological and economic impacts.  Invasive species directly impact biodiversity by displacing native plants and the habitat they provide to pollinators and wildlife. They can also degrade the soil and lead to increased erosion, impacting our water quality, and impact or even kill important tree species that provide shade, carbon storage, and native habitat.

Visit the Blue Ridge Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM) to learn more about how to identify the most harmful invasive species in our region, and how to best manage them on your land.

Planting (or simply retaining) native vegetation along rivers and streams on your property can help protect drinking water, provide habitat and corridors for wildlife, and increase resiliency to flooding. Learn more about the benefits of riparian buffers and best practices for managing them.   

Programs that provide technical assistance and help offset the costs of planting or retaining buffers are available to landowners in the County. Learn more about which ones might match your needs and the characteristics of your land:

• The James River Buffer Program provides 100% of the project cost for qualifying landowners to install riparian buffers.
• The Albemarle Conservation Assistance Program (ACAP) provides cost-share funding to homeowners for improving riparian buffers, controlling erosion, planting native vegetation, and other landscape practices.
• Agriculture and forestry-related conservation assistance programs through the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District (TJSWCD) and the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provide funding and technical assistance to install riparian buffers and other best management practices on agricultural and forestal lands.
• Tax credits for buffers and other best management practices may also be available to eligible landowners with agriculture or forestry land, through the Agricultural BMP Tax Credit Program and the Riparian Forest Buffer Tax Credit.  

Conservation easements are legal agreements between a private landowner and an organization that are designed to protect the values of the land in perpetuity. These values may include natural habitat, scenic views, historic resources, and rural land uses like farming and forestry. By protecting our land and water resources, easements are one of the best tools for ensuring habitat for biodiversity, protecting water quality, and maintaining the carbon sequestration capability of the land. 

Landowners who put land into a conservation easement may be eligible for state, federal, and local tax benefits. Learn more about some of the conservation organizations and easement programs available to landowners in Albemarle:

• Albemarle County Land Conservation Programs
• Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) - Introduction to Conservation Easements
• Virginia Outdoors Foundation Open-Space Easement Program
• Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District (TJSWCD) Easement Program
• Virginia Department of Forestry - Forestland Conservation Program
• Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP)

How you use and manage your land not only influences the environmental conditions of that property, but also those nearby. If you are interested in being a steward of the land and a good neighbor, there is funding available to help you adopt “Best Management Practices” (BMPs) – whether you use your land for residential purposes, habitat preservation, forestry, horticulture, or agricultural production. 

Here are some of the cost-share and incentive programs available to help Albemarle County landowners install or maintain best management practices:

• The Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District (TJSWCD) has many agricultural Conservation Assistance Programs that provide funding and technical assistance for farm owners to install agricultural best management practices. These programs can help landowners qualify for the Virginia Agricultural BMP Tax Credit Program.
• The federal government has several conservation programs that help reduce soil erosion, improve water quality, increase wildlife habitat, and provide flood protection. Contact the Farm Service Agency (FSA) or Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to learn more. 
• The Albemarle Conservation Assistance Program (ACAP), administered by TJSWCD provides cost-share funding to homeowners for improving riparian buffers, controlling erosion, planting native vegetation, and other landscape practices.
• The James River Buffer Program provides 100% of the project cost for qualifying landowners to install riparian buffers.
• Landowners who retain a riparian forest buffer along waterways during a timber harvest can be eligible for Virginia’s Riparian Buffer Tax Credit.  

Open grass and shrubby habitat are important for certain types of wildlife, and especially for grassland birds. Many of these birds build their nests in the grasses in the summer and depend on these areas for food and cover in the winter. Some examples of grassland birds include Eastern meadowlarks, Northern bobwhite quail and Eastern bluebirds. Grassland birds have been in decline, largely due to intensive agricultural practices and loss of habitat, but there are some simple actions you can take to protect them. For example, avoid mowing fields during peak nesting season between May 1st and July 1st. Delay fall “cleanup” of fields and brush until spring to provide winter cover. When you mow, cut slowly from the center of the field outward, to give wildlife a chance to escape. Lastly, allow natural vegetative buffers to grow along the edges of fields and streams, which is important for both wildlife and water quality. To learn more, explore these two helpful resources:

• Field Management Guidelines for Grassland and Shrubland Birds by Virginia Working Landscapes
• Managing Land in the Piedmont of Virginia for Birds and Other Wildlife by the Piedmont Environmental Council 

Wherever rain falls on concrete, asphalt, and other “impervious surfaces”, it cannot soak into the ground. Instead, it quickly becomes stormwater runoff that can cause soil erosion in ditches, hillsides, and streams. Dark pavement also gets hot on sunny days, which exacerbates the heat island effect. These phenomena call for us to re-think pavement: how much we put down, what kind we use, and how we manage it. 

If your property has old, unused pavement sitting around, consider removing it! If you are developing on your property, keep in mind that the wider and longer you make the driveways, parking areas, and walkways, the more runoff and heat your land will produce. Thoughtful site planning can help minimize how much pavement is needed.  

Another option for building or replacing driveways and walkways is to use permeable pavement materials such as porous asphalt, pervious concrete, and permeable interlocking concrete pavers. These materials provide durable surfaces while allowing rain and snow to seep into them, producing very little runoff. Permeable pavement materials are more expensive than traditional asphalt and concrete, but cost-share support may be available through the Virginia Conservation Assistance Program. Eligible projects can receive up to $10/square foot of permeable pavement installed ($10,000 max payment). 

Finally, if you do have regular asphalt surfaces on your property, avoid sealcoating – especially with coal-tar-based products. These sealcoat materials have been found to be potentially harmful to humans and aquatic ecosystems. 

Agricultural and Forestal Districts are rural conservation areas that support the protection of rural land as an important economic and environmental resource. Districts are voluntary and are initiated by a landowner or group of landowners as a mutual undertaking with the local government. By establishing or joining a District, property owners agree not to convert their land to more intense commercial, industrial, or residential uses for a period of time. In return, the County and Commonwealth are limited in their ability to take actions (such as acquiring land for roads or public infrastructure) that would have a negative effect on agriculture and forestry land in a District. 

Learn more about the program in Albemarle County and how to apply.

Healthy soil is a living ecosystem; a teaspoon of it contains billions of organisms. Healthy soil supports biodiversity and ecological health up and down the food chain; it retains and filters rainwater; and it stores carbon that otherwise would contribute to climate change.  

Farmers have pioneered many of the methods for restoring soil health through regenerative agriculture, and other landowners can help build healthy soils too. Restoring and managing fields, forests, and stream buffers can help to revitalize the soil for many types of land uses. 

Explore these resources to learn more about best practices for maintaining and improving soil health:

• The Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District contains numerous resources and assistance programs for homeowners, landowners, and farmers.
• The Virginia Soil Health Coalition provides resources including technical assistance, readings, and further websites with additional resources.
• The Virginia Association for Biological Farming lists several grant and funding opportunities, as well as other resources.
• The Virginia Cooperative Extension’s Soil Information Program offers webinars, on-site trainings, and publications on understanding and building soil health.
• Project Drawdown offers a basic overview of how regenerative agricultural practices support climate action.  

Forest is the primary natural land cover in the Virginia Piedmont and provides many benefits to our natural environment – including carbon storage and sequestration, protecting and improving water quality, stabilizing soil, providing habitat, and minimizing damage from floods. Each year, a portion of our forestland is converted to another use, reducing the ecological benefits our forests provide as a whole.

As a landowner, one of the best things you can do for climate, biodiversity, and clean water is to retain natural forestland. For open land that is no longer needed, consider allowing a forest to grow up naturally, or plant native hardwoods to jumpstart the process and maximize benefits for biodiversity. If you have open land that you would prefer to maintain as open, consider planting a natural meadow, which will also sequester carbon and provide benefits for pollinators and certain types of birds.

You can learn more from Project Drawdown about how protecting and restoring forests helps to store and sequester carbon dioxide, making it an important climate solution. You can also contact your local forester for technical assistance and further resources.

A conservation or land management plan can help you achieve your goals for your property over the long term and maximize benefits for climate, soil, water, and biodiversity. Technical assistance for farm and forestland planning can help you fully take advantage of financial assistance programs that are available and learn how to implement best management practices to protect soil and water resources.  Depending on the type of land use on your property, the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District or the Virginia Department of Forestry might be a good place to start, or you can look into private consultants that may also provide management planning services.

Legacy planning – planning for the transfer of your land to the next generation – is another critically important conservation tool to consider. This type of long-term planning can help protect your rural land over the long-term by minimizing parcelization (division) of the land and fragmentation of the natural landscape. Parcelization and fragmentation almost inevitably lead to land conversion – most frequently from rural and more natural open space to development and other intensive land uses. You can learn more about how to get started with legacy planning from Virginia Cooperative Extension programs for farm and forest landowners, such as Generation NEXT.