‘Speed dating’ is for the birds (and other critters)

Biodiversity restoration taking root in Rappahannock County and around the region

Speed dating isn’t just for singles who want brief meet ups with prospective partners — not in Northern Virginia’s Piedmont, anyway. 

In a new twist on the “mini-dating” phenomenon, a way in which couples focus their attention on each other for a short date that lasts 20 minutes or so, the Virginia Grassland Bird Initiative (VGBI), a consortium of regional and national conservation groups, launched the Conservation Speed-Dating Workshop program last year. 

Its mission: Providing  a “one-stop-shop” to introduce conservation-minded farmers and landowners to an array of technical experts who advise them on practices that can improve biodiversity and help reverse the decline of grassland bird populations and other wildlife. Landowners move from one expert to another in a matter of 10 minutes learning about conservation practices specific to their land, eventually visiting up to 10 workshop experts.

“Finding the right organization can be confusing and time-consuming for farmers and landowners seeking the focused technical expertise to help better manage their land. Speed-dating workshops bring all these groups together in one place,” said Justin Proctor, coordinator of VGBI, whose partners are Virginia Working Landscapes (VWL), Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), the Farmland Trust and Quail Forever.

In keeping with a long tradition of protecting Rappahannock’s open spaces and bucolic landscapes — over 33,600 acres are in conservation easement — an increasing number of the county’s landowners and farmers have stepped up to implement land conservation practices and participate in the workshops.

“Many landowners in Rappahannock County are fully engaged in land preservation, environmental stewardship and regenerative agriculture that benefit biodiversity,” Proctor said. “The county has become a nexus for generating momentum in the field of conservation, and what we learn there, we apply to our work in surrounding counties.”

Biodiversity, short for biological diversity, is the name given to the variety and abundance of plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms in a particular geographic area. A loss of biodiversity can threaten ecosystems adversely affecting wildlife, plants and other forms of life. 

A prime example is the decline of grassland birds in the United States. Since 1970 grassland birds have suffered a 34% population loss of over 700 million birds. Virginia has over 50 species of birds that rely on grasslands throughout the year and many of them are experiencing significant declines, according to Amy Johnson, program director of Virginia Working Landscapes, a program of the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

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Free aerial photos

Workshops start with landowners receiving a free aerial photo of their land. Next come short consultations with experts on issues like removal of invasive species, soil health, planting trees or native grasses and watershed protection. Experts then make recommendations on practices and programs specific to each property. The workshops are often pitched to neighbors, giving them the opportunity to discuss shared conservation goals.

Last February, the Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection (RLEP) co-hosted a speed-dating workshop in Sperryville with PEC. Clare Lindsay, RLEP’s vice president, said the event, with about 15 attendees, focused on landowners with 20 or more acres who were new to the county.

“The aerial photos of the participant’s property were extremely useful when collaborating on strategies with the land experts,” she said. “Experts and landowners reviewed geographic features to decide on recommendations for conservation practices. The process was much more efficient than setting up time-consuming one-on-one meetings with technical experts.”

Mike Wenger, a RLEP board member who helped set up the workshop, agreed its biggest advantage was getting the best information to landowners all at once. “We hope to follow up with participants soon to learn what practices they may have adopted as a result of the workshop,” he said. “As new landowners come into the county and others become more interested in biodiversity, we hope to hold these workshops at least on an annual basis.” 

Onsite visits

Assistance to landowners isn’t limited to speed-dating workshops. Many organizations, including the Warrenton-based nonprofit Clifton Institute, provide personal onsite field visits. 

According to Bert Harris, Clifton’s co-director, the institute provides free property visits to advise landowners on management practices for meadows, grasslands and forests that can benefit native plants and wildlife. 

“We utilize the research we’ve conducted on our 900-acre field station and 133 sites throughout the Piedmont area to help landowners decide on which best management practices can be most effective,” he said. “Since every landscape is different, it helps to make site-specific visits where we can look at soils, plant life and the history of the property. Whether it is removal of invasive species, planting warm native grasses or pollinator plants, we work with the landowner to develop goals to restore habitat and conserve biodiversity.”

According to Kadiera Ingram, Clifton’s landowner outreach associate, 234 properties have been visited since the program’s inception in 2020, including 44 in Rappahannock County.

“Rappahannock has the second highest number of visits in the 15-county area we serve,” she said. 

The institute also works with landowners whose property is protected under conservation easement. “Much of the more than 200,000 acres of land in Rappahannock, Fauquier and Loudoun counties in conservation easement need better management to help declining species,” said Harris. “A key part of our program is to help those landowners.”

‘A lot to learn’ 

Paula Whyman and her husband, Bill, purchased their 209-acre property on Hickerson Mountain near Flint Hill several years ago.

“We bought the property with the goal of restoring the old fields and meadows to native grassland and shrubland,” said Paula.

“The first step was to learn the ins and outs of ecological restoration, what was most practical and what made sense. The Clifton Institute, VWL, PEC, and other groups visited the property and conducted plant and bird surveys. That really helped me develop a restoration strategy,” she said.

To chronicle her experiences Paula started an online publication, “Bad Naturalist Newsletter,” and is writing a book, “BAD NATURALIST: One Woman’s Ecological Education On a Wild Virginia Mountaintop,” due out in January.

 “It’s not that I’m a ‘bad’ naturalist,” she said. “When I started this project I thought I would learn the one ‘right’ approach to restoration, but soon realized there are no perfect answers. I had a lot to learn about this mountain and the plants and wildlife that live here, and I still do. We are lucky to have the resources from local conservation groups and government agencies for landowners who want to help the ecosystem.”

‘Dirty gardening’ 

Nancy Raines, who lives in Castleton with her husband Dick, has been working on their native meadow landscapes since the 1990s, well before many of today’s technical resources were readily available. 

“It’s been a work in progress,” she said. “As a first step, we wanted to find out what we had in the way of native plants in those old grazing fields. It turned out we had a good seed bank of native grasses so we left things alone, only mowing once or twice a year.” 

About 15 years ago, Raines invited VWL and the Clifton Institute to survey their property and make management recommendations. “We learned more about practices which often come down to removing invasive species and giving the native plants a chance to reestablish,” she said.  

Raines also employs a technique sometimes called “dirty gardening.” 

“You don’t want a pristine landscape, but rather ‘messy’ edges with brush and plant cuttings piled up to provide winter habitat for small mammals, bees and other insects,” she said.   

As for landowners who want to get involved in biodiversity restoration, Raines offers this advice: Find out what native plants are already there; commit to a mowing schedule that protects wildlife like nesting birds and turtles; keep fields “messy” and be diligent in removing invasive plants like autumn olive and Japanese honeysuckle.

“There is a plethora of technical expertise available today and landowners should take advantage of that,” she said.

Combating invasives

A big part of biodiversity restoration involves removal of invasive species. That is the core mission of the Blue Ridge Partnership for Regional Invasive Management (PRISM), a nonprofit group that serves 12 counties in the Northern Piedmont area.

“Over the last five years, invasive species like oriental bittersweet, autumn olive and ailanthus  have reached a tipping point, and their impact has seriously accelerated in our area,” said  Wenger, who also serves on PRISM’s leadership team. 

“The public response to combating invasives has been overwhelming, with more than 3,000 people attending PRISM workshops, meetings, or webinars in the last couple of years,” he said. “Thanks to these programs, folks are getting a handle on how to combat invasives. The good news for Rappahannock is that we have a very strong native plant seed bank. That gives us the building blocks to restore our fields and forests to their native state.” 

And biodiversity restoration isn’t just for landowners who have large open spaces.

A few years ago Doug Tallamy, a University of Delaware entomologist and ecology professor, co-founded Homegrown National Park (HNP), a project where almost any property owner can participate. 

Tallamy, a nationally recognized author and authority on biodiversity restoration, urges landowners to plant native species and remove invasive plants in their gardens, yards and urban rooftops. 

HNP describes its mission this way: “… a bottom-up call-to-action to restore habitat where we live and work, and to a lesser extent, where we farm and graze, extending national parks to our yards and communities.” 

The project has almost 40,000 participants nationwide, including more than 50 in Rappahannock County where RLEP is promoting the effort. “Since Rappahannock is adjacent to Shenandoah National Park, we thought Tallamy’s initiative would resonate with residents in our community,” said Lindsey. 

RLEP has made up yard signs for participants to display, and printed brochures promoting the program.

Tallamy is scheduled to deliver a presentation on biodiversity at 7 p.m. Friday, June 21 at the Little Washington Theatre. “We expect a big community turnout and hope his lecture will spark continued interest in conservation biodiversity restoration,” said Lindsay.

Good Neighbors program

In a related development, the Shenandoah National Park Trust recently launched its Good Neighbors program that focuses on private land stewardship along the the borders of  Shenandoah National Park. 

 “The park is not a bubble unto itself, but inextricably linked to many activities going on around it,” said Patti McGill Peterson, board chair of the trust and a Sperryville resident. 

“Through the Good Neighbors program we want to better understand some of those activities and how we might work with conservation partners and communities and add value to projects beneficial to the park,” she said.

Beth Mizell, the program’s manager, said a key element of Good Neighbors is to identify and match willing adjacent landowners with partner organizations, such as Virginia Working Landscapes and Shenandoah Conservation Council, that can provide conservation expertise.  

“The program also aims to facilitate communications between the park and nearby neighbors on projects such as removal of invasive species or improving forest health,” she said. “Finally, we will be building out our land protection program, working with willing park neighbors who are interested in donating or protecting land. Good Neighbors is still in its planning stages. We hope to have all its components up and running by the end of the summer.”

Tips on field management

Nancy and Dick Raines of Castleton have been working to improve biodiversity in their fields and meadows since the early 1990s. Here are several tips they recommend for landowners interested in restoring their property with native plants and grasses:

Find out what you have: Look into what native plants are already growing in your fields. If they are plentiful and the seed bank is robust, you may not have to do anything.

Know before you mow: The best time to mow fields is February and March before the bird nesting season. Avoid April, May and June when nests are hidden, young birds are fledging and turtles roam fields. Keep mowing blades at least eight inches high.

Mess for success: Place piles of branches, sticks and cuttings around fields. Consider letting a field grow for two or three years before cutting. Birds, small mammals and insects need cover throughout the year. 

Bee beautiful: Plant a wildflower meadow or a butterfly garden to attract bees and other pollinators. Overgrown areas along field borders make attractive habitat, too.

Fight bad guys, help good guys: Remove invasive species like oriental bittersweet, mile-a-minute, ailanthus, and Japanese honeysuckle wherever possible and replace them with native plant species.

Consult with experts: Many organizations in the region including the Virginia Grassland Bird Initiative, Piedmont Environmental Council, Virginia Working Landscapes, Clifton Institute and the Virginia Department of Forestry can help make recommendations to improve biodiversity in fields and forests.