West Virginia Success Story

WV Potomac Headwaters Land Treatment Watershed Project (PL-534) in Hardy County, West Virginia

Program or Category: PL-534

Overview: PL-534 is a unique program which uses both Federal and State funds to provide technical assistance to livestock and poultry producers in the development and implementation of nutrient management plans and to provide needed cost-sharing assistance for the installation of water quality improvement practices for livestock and poultry operations. The project targeted eligible watersheds, with Lost River and South Branch Potomac Watersheds being in Hardy County, West Virginia.

The project began in 1997. Ninety-four contracts were written with agricultural producers in Hardy County alone. Contracts were ten years in length, and 64 contracts end in 2007.

Accomplishments: As of September 2007, there were 83 Waste Storage Facilities; 10 structures built for relocating livestock feedlots away from environmentally-sensitive areas; and 50 composters constructed to provide a safe way of handling poultry mortality. These projects prevented nutrient loading into nearby watercourses, and also helped reduce the potential for nitrate leaching and phosphorus buildup in soils by requiring producers to follow Nutrient Management Plans.

Program Benefits to Landowner: Producers were able to solve resource conservation and management problems, made possible with technical and financial assistance. A low-interest agricultural water quality loan program sponsored by the Potomac Valley Conservation District allowed producers to borrow money for their 40% of the cost of the project at a reasonable rate.

Timothy Wilkins was one of the producers who participated in the program and saw benefits in his operation. Mr. Wilkins was feeding his feeder calves directly along an intermittent drain that runs through his property. Contaminated runoff flowed directly into the watercourse, with no buffer for filtration. With assistance from NRCS field staff, the feeding area was relocated to a hill away from all drains and a facility was designed where Wilkins could feed his cattle and then scrape the manure into a stacker for storage. In return for his improvements, Wilkins got a dry and convenient feeding location and new watering troughs that made daily operations easier. Poultry litter, rather than being stored out in the open, can now be stored in the littershed until it can be applied to the land according to his Nutrient Management Plan.

Program Benefits to Community: Improved management of animal wastes and establishment of riparian buffers improve water resources in the county and ultimately, the larger watershed community.

Contact:
Ed Kesecker, District Conservationist
Ed.Kesecker@wv.usda.gov
304-530-2825 ext 106

Moorefield Service Center—Serving Hardy County, WV
223 North Main Street
Moorefield, WV 26836
Telephone: 304-530-2825
Fax: (304) 530-2086
http://www.wv.nrcs.usda.gov/contact/moorefield.html

Mr. Wilkins unloads calves into his barn, which replaced the winter feeding area next to the stream. An attached Waste Storage Facility allows the manure to be stored until Spring, when the ground is unfrozen and plant nutrient uptake can occur.

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