Partner Profile

As part of the Watershed team at DOF, we are experienced traditional and urban foresters who specialize in the management of Virginia’s forest resources and how they influence the waters of the Commonwealth. Our goal is to improve water quality for wildlife habitat, recreational benefit, and clean drinking water. We accomplish this by reducing sediment and nutrient pollution in both the Chesapeake Bay and Southern River watersheds through forestland
conservation, riparian buffer establishment, afforestation, and urban plantings.

Working as a Watershed Specialist, I enjoy working with other organizations and partners who share the common goal of improving and protecting streams by establishing buffers to provide clean water for all Virginians. While buffers are not new to the Virginia Department of Forestry (DOF), the official Watershed Program was created just over three years ago. It’s been so exciting to get to build this program from the ground up with my amazing team. Our collective talents and ability to work together to build DOF’s Watershed program has been very rewarding for me. I love that buffers are getting recognized for the powerhouse forestry practices that they are. I get to work with wonderful people to get trees in the ground to improve our water—what could be better?

I have worked for DOF for almost 24 years, with most of that time spent in Augusta County working as an Area Forester. A lot of the landowners I worked with were farmers who participated in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), and it was my job to develop planting plans to establish forested buffers along the streams that flowed through their property. CREP is a federal cost-share program that pays landowners to fence their livestock out of streams and plant trees to establish a riparian forest buffer. Started in 2000, it was one of the earliest buffer programs available to landowners in Virginia. I worked closely with the Natural Resource Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency, and the Headwaters Soil and Water Conservation District, all of whom did amazing work to promote CREP and encourage the farmers they worked with to enroll in the program. Even though we all worked for different agencies, we shared the same message of protecting streams by planting trees to protect water quality in Augusta County, and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. Working as the Watershed Specialist for DOF, I can continue working with partner agencies and promoting practices that improve water quality for all Virginians.

The Consortium is very focused on protecting and improving water quality through the establishment of riparian buffers throughout the James River Watershed. The consortium creates the space for sharing of ideas, research, knowledge, experiences, resources, and makes them available to all natural resource professionals working in the buffer world so they are best equipped to design buffers that will not only survive but thrive. Planting a buffer may SEEM simple enough, but it takes a lot of planning and work to ensure buffers that go in the ground are successful. One of the best-selling points for getting new buffers established is people driving by and seeing well-maintained buffers with a diversity of tree species, minimal invasive species, and stream banks protected from erosion and sedimentation. The consortium has allowed me to learn from others about better buffer practices and share that knowledge with resource professionals and landowners.