Consortium Event
Landowner Empowerment for Buffer Maintenance
September 11th, 2025 in Crozet, VA
Buffer maintenance is an ongoing opportunity for improvement – it’s been a topic of conversation among buffer practitioners and now more formally with landowners who the Consortium hopes to be part of our continued efforts!
Conversations from the 2024 Implementation Team Visioning Meeting and 2024 Buffer Summit brought up the importance of centering landowner education and resources when it comes to being part of their own buffer maintenance plan. In a 2025 survey with over 50 landowner responses led by Patrick Powers, then graduate student at Virginia Tech, showed a related need – landowners are looking for support with maintenance resources and education. In addition, the idea for peer networking came up in the research.
A group of practitioners and landowners met at Greenwood Community Center on September 11th, 2025 to move these goals forward. The group split up into working teams and identified key priorities for each goal area.
Maintenance Resources and Education
The James River Buffer Program covers the first three years of maintenance after buffer installation with the ultimate goal of tree survival. Outside of JRBP maintenance, and for landowners who don’t have the same maintenance support through other programs, an important question remains: What are the components of short term maintenance? And who is responsible?
Short-term maintenance involves the first three years after planting, and includes:
- vegetation control around the trees through mowing and spot spraying,
- invasive species control,
- insect and disease monitoring, and
- making sure tree tubes and netting are structurally sound.
This working group identified the key priority of educating landowners of available resources and with expectations of the landowner in caring for their buffer, with the following two resources to start: a partner/resource flowchart and a clear JRBP landowner expectations document (can be adapted for other programs).
We look forward to working on these resources in the coming months, and creating a clear path for sustainable buffer maintenance plans!
Peer-to-Peer Networking
Current opportunities for peer networking are interwoven into educational workshops and volunteer opportunities, including our annual Buffer Maintenance Workshops, and Information on our 2025 workshops can be found at this link – RSVP and join us November 3rd in Buckingham or November 6th in Lexington!
But we heard the call for more continuous connection points and peer support!
The working group identified a key priority as developing a JRBP community virtual network as an avenue to connect with each other about the program, issues, resources, and meet-ups. This will serve as a pilot for a potential larger buffer community network in the future. We look forward to discussing more with landowners at the Buffer Maintenance Workshops to shape this and other peer networking opportunities.
Please refer to our Meeting Summary for further details on our discussions and action items!
As we were wrapping up, we were met with enthusiasm from our partners to be joined by a Horned Passalus Beetle (featured in these photos). Thanks to Bailey Pleasant, Watershed Coordinator at Rivanna Conservation Alliance for the ID and sharing about them!
