Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund
www.nfwf.org/chesapeake
Onancock Watershed Restoration Project
Organization:
Project Partners:
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Eastern Shore Resource Conservation & Development Council, Center
for Watershed Protection, Town of Onancock, Eastern Shore Soil and Water Conservation
District, Virginia Cooperative Extension and Virginia Tech’s Eastern Shore Agricultural Research
and Extension Center, Accomack County Planning Department, Crop Production Services, Helena
Chemical, Shore Fertilizer, Natural Resources Conservation Service
Grant Award:
Matching Funds:
$500,000
$829,020
Project Description.
The Onancock Watershed Restoration Project proposes an innovative, whole-community
approach to watershed restoration including urban and agricultural best management practice
implementation. The project targets the Virginia Eastern Shore’s Onancock watershed which
has been identified as being at high risk for development vulnerability and in the top 25 percent
nutrient-yielding areas for nitrogen and phosphorus from both urban and agricultural sources.
Through efforts of multiple local, state, and federal governments, research/extension, and nonprofit partners, this project will engage farmers and watershed residents in a comprehensive
effort to reduce nutrients and sediment loading to Onancock Creek. The project has four
primary focus areas: whole community engagement, urban stormwater runoff control, the
improvement of agricultural nitrogen use efficiency and the commencement of nutrient trading,
and residential and agricultural riparian buffer restoration. The commitment of local partners
to leading an initiative to engage all sectors of the watershed in efforts to restore Onancock
Creek make this an ideal project area to demonstrate how whole communities can work
together to achieve local water quality and Chesapeake Bay restoration goals.
The agricultural strategy addresses the issue of phosphorus-saturated soils from the historic
use of poultry litter. Large poultry operations in a small, geographically water-locked area have
resulted in soils with high to very high levels of phosphorus where poultry litter applications
are phosphorus-limited. As a result, farmers must utilize inorganic nitrogen fertilizer for crop
production. Increasing efficiency of nitrogen applications – and reducing excess nitrogen runoff
– is a key goal for the project and one that will be addressed with the purchase and
demonstration of variable rate infrared sensor nitrogen fertilizer application equipment.
Farmers utilizing the variable rate infrared sensor technology will be encouraged to meet
‘baseline’ BMP requirements necessary for them to participate in nutrient trading in Virginia.
Credits will be aggregated, verified, and offered for sale – potentially generating the first sale
of nutrient credits from working farms in Virginia.
Goals and Outcomes.
The project goal is to achieve nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment reductions through
advocating for increased adoption of BMPs and demonstrating variable rate infrared sensor
fertilizer application technology on an estimated 11,250 acres of corn and 7,500 acres of wheat,
avoiding the application of 288,750 pounds of nitrogen annually. Three variable rate fertilizer
units operating on the Eastern Shore in partnership with 130 participants (farmers and custom
applicator technicians, as well as conservation agency staff) on 18,750 acres of cropland is
estimated to reduce nitrogen application by 288,750 pounds, and prevent 15,630 pounds of
nitrogen from entering the Chesapeake Bay. Further, the project will generate nitrogen
reduction credits from working farm lands that will be available for sale through the Virginia
nutrient trading program.
At least two workshops with an estimated participation of 25 farmers per workshop will be held
to discuss nutrient trading opportunities. Partners will work to identify interested farmers
including efforts to bring farmers up to baseline so they can participate in the Virginia nutrient
trading program. As such, it is estimated that this project will result in an additional: 1,000
acres of cover crops, 1,000 acres of cropland converted to conservation tillage, and 500 acres of
additional cropland covered by an NMP. This increased BMP adoption is estimated to reduce
nitrogen entering waterways by 7,316 pounds, phosphorus by 329 pounds, and sediment by 11.4
tons annually. Partners anticipate enrolling 1,500 acres of cropland in a nutrient trading
program, resulting in approximately $24,990 in additional revenue (assuming $20 per pound of
nitrogen), and 1,250 pounds of nitrogen credits for sale.
Efforts to restore riparian buffers will be focused on both agricultural and residential areas. To
promote the increased adoption of agricultural riparian buffers, partners will host at least one
agricultural grass riparian buffer workshop to educate an estimated 50 participants on the
economic and conservation benefits of native warm season grasses buffers. Partners will work
with farmers to install 8,000 linear feet of riparian buffers of at least 35 feet on agricultural
land.
Because many ditches that drain agricultural and urban areas in the watershed function
essentially as perennial or intermittent streams, directly discharging into tributaries of
Onancock Creek, partners will work to demonstrate BMPs for ditch maintenance and water
quality protection on an estimated 600 linear feet of agricultural drainage ditches. Partners
will host at least one workshop on ditch maintenance BMPs with anticipated attendance at 40,
with the goal of two counties/local jurisdictions adopting ditch maintenance BMPs.
In addition to the agricultural component, the goal for the urban stormwater component of the
project is to demonstrate stormwater runoff best management practices, and to demonstrate
how a community can develop a plan for meeting watershed implementation goals in a manner
that supports planned growth and engages the whole community in restoration efforts. The
urban component of the project includes a combination of on-the-ground implementation,
planning, and assessment to reduce stormwater runoff volume, nutrients, and sediment. Project
partners will prepare a watershed stormwater assessment for the town of Onancock to evaluate
options for BMPs, including estimated costs of implementation. Three high-profile urban
stormwater BMPs will be demonstrated for treating urban stormwater runoff from impervious
surfaces. A bioretention system and a wet swale will be designed and installed on the town’s
two largest paved surfaces where stormwater currently drains directly to the Onancock Creek.
Also, a stormwater treatment wetland will be constructed at a new community health center.
Status.
We have not begun work on this project yet.
Challenges and Lessons Learned.
Since we have not commenced project work, we have no
challenges to report.
Readiness for Scale Up.
If widely adopted, the variable rate fertilizer technology demonstrated by this project has the
potential to reduce nitrogen application to corn and wheat acreage on the Virginia Eastern
Shore by approximately 770,000 pounds annually. We also anticipate that successful
demonstration of the nutrient trading program could result in more farmers and communities
participating in statewide trading. Post-project outcomes include the potential for 30,000 acres
to be enrolled on the Eastern Shore with $499,800 in additional revenue and 25,000 pounds of
nitrogen credits for sale. In addition, since this is a whole-community approach to reducing
nutrient and sediment pollution in a watershed, it is designed to serve as a model for other
communities and to catalyze conservation efforts in surrounding areas.
For more information, contact:
Kristen Hughes Evans
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Development Council
804/780-1392
khughes@cbf.org
www.cbf.org
Jane Corson-Lassiter
Eastern Shore Resource Conservation &
757/787-2786
jane.lassiter@va.usda.gov
Dr. Mark Reiter
VA Tech Agricultural Research and Extension Center (AREC)
757-414-0724 x16
mreiter@vt.edu