Smith Creek Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay Showcase Watershed 43 percent of this intensively farmed watershed is agricultural land with significant amounts of cropland (5,713 acres) and hayland (13,105 acres). Supporting State Goals NRCS is partnering with more than 20 groups and organizations in the watershed to improve water quality and support the current Smith Creek Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Implementation Plan. Best management practices to address resource concerns include installing riparian buffers, cover crops, rotational Overview Smith Creek Profile grazing and alternative watering systems; constructing waste storage In 2010, USDA’s Natural Resources The Shenandoah Valley is home to 75 facilities; excluding livestock from Conservation Service (NRCS) percent of Virginia’s poultry operations streams; and implementing nutrient established three showcase water- and approximately 46 percent of its management practices. sheds to demonstrate what can be dairies. This concentration of animal accomplished when people and groups farms has contributed to nitrogen, Smith Creek is the only small come together to solve natural resource phosphorus, sediment and bacteria agricultural watershed in Virginia where problems in a targeted area. pollution in local streams, the the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, is monitoring progress as BMPs are The goal of the project was to reduce and the Chesapeake Bay. installed. USGS collects river samples nitrogen, phosphorous and sediment from the Smith Creek watershed contributions from soil erosion, over- The Smith Creek Watershed covers application of nutrients, poor pasture 67,335 acres and includes four sub- management and uncontrolled animal watersheds: Dry Fork, Mountain Run, access to streams. War Branch and Gap Creek. Karst topography dominates the area with Maryland’s Upper Chester River and 329 sinkholes and 35 caves. Pennsylvania’s Conewago Creek collaborations have concluded, but Seventy-five percent of the water- Virginia’s Smith Creek project is still shed is in Rockingham County and 25 going strong. percent is in Shenandoah County. Of 286.9 miles of streams, 64.34 miles NRCS is working with more than 20 (22 percent) are impaired. Landowners in the Smith Creek watershed are partners committed to helping local receiving financial assistance to install stream farmers and landowners voluntarily Thirty-three percent of the land is crossings (above left), riparian forest buffers implement conservation practices to prime or important farmland. Pasture- and other practices to help improve local reduce nutrient and sediment runoff land (10,408 acres) is the dominant water quality. into the Chesapeake Bay. agricultural land use. Approximately Smith Creek Counties and Subwatersheds Map Key: PS59 - Dry Fork PS60 - Mountain Run PS61 - War Branch PS62 - Gap Creek Innovation in Action In 2020, Smith Creek landowners Peyton and Myra Yancy began working with the nonprofit Ridge to Reefs to install a denitrifying bioreactor that will help reduce nitrogen levels in the spring on their property and discharge the treated water back into the headwaters of to understand BMP water-quality • Installing over 40.2 miles of Smith Creek. effects. With over five years of data livestock fencing already collected in this study, the A woodchip bioreactor is an edge- • Planting 3,375 acres of USGS has identified locations of of-field practice designed to treat cover crops high nitrate concentrations and agricultural water from drainage tile documented nitrogen sources • Developing plans for 35 waste lines, drainage ditches, springs or (i.e., manure, commercial fertilizer storage facilities ponds. A buried trench filled with and septic fields). Ongoing efforts • Implementing prescribed woodchips is the main component of are focused on linking water- this system. grazing on 1,305 acres quality changes with practice implementation. An in-line water control structure Contact Information diverts the water to the woodchip Highlights for 2010-2019 trench, which provides the proper Smith Creek Partnership Website environment (carbon from woodchips, The Smith Creek Partnership has https://smithcreekwatershed.com/ nitrate-nitrogen from agricultural conducted extensive outreach over drainage and low dissolved oxygen) to the past 10 years, personally Kathy Holm, NRCS Smith Creek promote denitrification. contacting local producers and Watershed Coordinator Denitrification converts nitrates to landowners and conducting multiple Email: [email protected] or harmless nitrogen gas that makes partnership meetings. Phone: 540-534-3044 up 78 percent of the air we breathe. Across the watershed, NRCS and Rockingham County Landowners Water quality data shows that this partners have completed 350 Harrisonburg NRCS Field Office innovative technology is highly Farm Resource Inventories on 70 and the Shenandoah Valley Soil & effective at reducing nitrates with a greater than 90 percent removal rate. percent of the watershed’s acreage Water Conservation District used for agriculture. Phone: (540) 433-1404 (NRCS) or Virginia Tech and the National Fish (540) 534-3049 (District) In fiscal years 2010-2019, NRCS and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) are funding the project. Tech will also approved 143 contracts totaling $5 Shenandoah County Landowners monitor bioreactor usage to assess million on 8,380 individual acres. Strasburg NRCS Field Office how well it is working. and the Lord Fairfax Soil & Farmers have helped to improve Water Conservation District water quality by: Phone: (540) 465-2424, ext. 3 Virginia • Applying nutrient management (NRCS) or ext. 5 (District) practices on 6,888 acres USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender. Virginia. • September 2020 nrcs.va.usda.gov/.