A Hellbender Working Lands for Wildlife 2023 Roundup
Working Lands for Wildlife
Year five of the Hellbender Working Lands for Wildlife partnership has wrapped up, and year six is poised to be a big one for the program and staff. First authorized in 2018, this program has grown in capacity every year. Its team of Private Lands Biologists (PLBs) have continually honed and refined their knowledge about how best to help restore hellbender habitat through the use of NRCS conservation practices, all while assisting farmers to achieve their sustainability goals.
This year, PLBs conducted a total of 22 site visits to new landowners that had not previously been engaged in the program. They also helped 17 landowners submit applications for funding through NRCS’ Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in the program’s three original states, in addition to numerous applications that were submitted last year but deferred for funding. If funded, these projects will allow farmers to restore stream banks, exclude cattle from streams, and plant forested riparian buffers in watersheds where improved water quality and reduced sedimentation will help to restore hellbender habitat and strengthen their populations.
Additionally, several projects that had been funded in previous years were able to be installed on the ground. That means that cattle have been excluded from 5,200 linear feet of streambank, more than 20 acres of forested riparian buffers have been planted, and 13,250 linear feet of streambank have been stabilized in priority hellbender watersheds this year.
The program has racked up other accomplishments this year, too. In the summer, the PLBs hosted a field day for NRCS engineering staff, state biologists, and state program staff from multiple states. The event provided education and training on natural design principles for streambank stabilization, and showcased their effectiveness over the long term at several site visits. In North Carolina, staff initiated a partnership with the Tennessee River Basin Network and Fernleaf Community Charter School to design an educational stream restoration project on the school grounds. This project will teach students about the importance of riparian forests for providing clean water and wildlife habitat, and will also incorporate a biodiverse array of edible and medicinal plants within the forested buffer.
Construction was also completed on an impressive demonstration project in Virginia. It showcases stream restoration techniques that haven’t often been used in that state, such as the use of toe wood and instream structures like J hooks and cross veins. The project also included carefully placed boulder structures to provide cover and nesting habitat for hellbenders. The project will serve as a guide to NRCS staff who are interested in utilizing these methods in future stream restoration projects. Many staff from across the state have already been to see the project and more visits are planned for 2023.
Finally, staff were awarded an “America the Beautiful Challenge” grant to design and implement demonstration projects that showcase the economic opportunities of riparian agroforestry to local landowners. The grant will also fund development of riparian tree and plant growing guides for farmers that include information on economic and market considerations. This exciting project will add considerable value to the existing benefits of restoring and protecting streams through the hellbender WLFW project. It is a perfect example of the core mission of the Working Lands for Wildlife partnership model; to provide win-win outcomes for producers and wildlife.
2023 was in many ways a year of laying foundations for future growth of the hellbender WLFW program. In addition to the core work of helping landowners restore their streams, new partnerships were initiated, considerable funding was brought in to expand the scope of the program, and education and information was shared that will increase the adoption of stream restoration methodologies that provide the most sustainable outcomes for hellbenders and other aquatic wildlife. Because of these efforts, the hellbender WLFW team will have a lot of work to do in the coming years, but also a lot of opportunity to expand the program’s positive impact for farmers, wildlife and communities across the region.
