NRCS Staff Support the Hellbender WLFW Program by Learning About Natural Design Principles
NRCS staff in the field discussing stream restoration
Restoring eroded stream banks is one of the most important strategies that the Working Lands for Wildlife (WLFW) program uses to protect hellbender habitat. By minimizing sediment runoff into streams and regenerating native streamside vegetation, this practice improves water quality for hellbenders and also ensures that producers don’t continue to lose farmable land to erosion. However, stream restoration can be a costly, time consuming and somewhat complex practice to install, particularly when it is done in a manner that produces the best outcomes for hellbenders and other aquatic species. WLFW Private Lands Biologists (PLB) and NRCS staff have done a lot of learning and creative collaboration over the years to ensure that a stream restoration project produces these outcomes without placing undue burden on property owners.
NC NRCS has long been a leader in supporting restoration of healthy aquatic systems by funding projects that use “natural design principles” through EQIP, RCPP and other programs. Their engineers have worked closely with leading specialists in the public and private sectors to ensure that installed projects are durable, long-lasting and ecologically sound. PLBs have worked with partners at the federal, state and local levels to ensure that the projects are financially feasible for landowners and align with their priorities for their agricultural operations. And NC landowners are often willing to go the extra mile and install additional conservation practices that do not directly impact their operations but that help improve habitat suitability for hellbenders. In short, stream restoration projects in Western NC represent the gold standard for the Hellbender WLFW program.
Last Month, Field Office, Area Office and Engineering staff from NRCS across Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina came together for a special educational field trip. Led by Hellbender WLFW coordinator Morgan Harris, the group had the opportunity to spend two days visiting farms in Western NC that had installed stream restoration projects according to natural design principles, learn about best practices, and see how those projects can result in measurable outcomes for hellbenders. Some of these NRCS State offices have been partners to the hellbender WLFW program for many years and others are just now joining it, but for the most part the other states either did not have a long history of implementing stream restoration through their NRCS programs, or had a tradition of taking a more conventional and less ecologically robust approach stream restoration projects.
Over the course of two days, visiting staff were able to see several of these “naturally” designed stream restoration projects at different stages of development, from a new project that was actively being installed at the time of the visit, to a project that had had several years to mature and demonstrate the stability and ecological lift that projects designed in this manner can provide. Craig Jennings, the principal engineer of the firm that was responsible for installing many of these projects, was on hand to discuss the process, point out important elements of the projects, and answer questions. The NRCS visitors certainly put his knowledge to the test as they peppered him with queries about everything from broad conceptual design to the tiniest engineering details.
The highlight of the trip was a visit to a farm that has long partnered with the Hellbender WLFW program. Two years ago, the landowner had agreed to install cover rocks (a conservation practice sometimes coupled with a larger stream enhancement project) to provide shelter and nesting habitat for hellbenders. Using a special scoping camera, Harris was able to show the visiting staff that three of those cover rocks had already been occupied by hellbenders of varying age classes. He was even able to bring one of the animals out of the stream so that staff could get closer. For many of them, this was their first time seeing a hellbender.
There can be many technical and administrative hurdles for State NRCS offices in promoting a new approach to a conservation practice, but the objective of this trip was to show staff on the ground that the WLFW approach– creating win-win outcomes by designing projects that can benefit farmers and wildlife together– really works and is worth investing in. Many of them reported that they greatly enjoyed the tour and were excited to take their new knowledge back to their home states.
