Headwaters

About Us

The Headwaters District is one of 47 Soil and Water Conservation Districts in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Formed in 1975, the District is a part of the state government which provides citizens the structure and the capability to solve conservation problems at a local grassroots level. Soil and Water Conservation Districts administer Virginia's Agricultural Best Management Practices Cost-Share Program, with technical assistance from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Cooperation between agencies and sharing technical expertise enables the Headwaters District to assist the community in protecting its natural resources.

Headwaters District covers over 1,000 square miles of the Shenandoah Valley (approximately 621,893 acres), including Augusta County and the Cities of Staunton and Waynesboro. The District is flanked by the Allegheny Mountains on the west, and the Blue Ridge Mountains on the east. Soils derived from sandstone and shales extend along the mountains and foothills, while soils of limestone origin are in the rolling valleys between the mountains.

Headwaters is aptly named, as two river systems, which both empty into the Chesapeake Bay, originate here. The northern two-thirds of Augusta County drain to the South Fork of the Shenandoah River, and the streams in the southern third of the District flow into the James.

Augusta County has the second largest income from farming production and poultry production in Virginia, and is in the top five counties for dairy, beef, alfalfa hay and hardwood production. The growing population of the District causes increasing pressure for development on prime farmland.

Headwaters Soil and Water Conservation District Strategic Plan:
Fiscal Years 2005 - 2008

Conservation on the Ground

-In the past five years, Headwaters has paid $1,860,787 in state cost-share funds to landowners who installed conservation practices (including CREP).
-Since the beginning of the Va. Agricultural BMP Cost-Share Program in 1984, farmers in this District have voluntarily:
-Excluded 1,669 acres of pasture from livestock to protect streams
-Protected 96 miles of stream banks (either by excluding livestock or structurally improving the banks)
-Installed 4,346 individual conservation practices (or Best Management Practices)
-Installed 120 Animal Waste Storage Facilities
-Established 2,659 acres of nutrient management
-Installed 2,919 acres of strip-cropping

Board of Directors

Headwaters District is governed by an eight- member Board of Directors, six of whom are elected in the general election and two are appointed, one at-large and one who is always a County Extension Agent.

-Charles Horn, Chair (Executive Committee) (full-time poultry & beef farming)
-Richard Shiflet, Vice-Chair (Land Use Committee) (full-time poultry & beef farming)
-Daniel Metraux (Education Committee) (Mary Baldwin College professor)
-Walter Flora, Secretary (Dam Safety Committee) (retired education administration)
-James Nichols (Education Committee) (retired education administration)
-Stephen Talley (Easements Sub-Committee) (Director, conservation organization)
-Brian Jones (Agronomist - VA Cooperative Extension)
-Charles Schooley (Agriculture & Cost-Share Committee) (full-time beef and poultry farming)

Associate Directors

Appointed by the Board are Associate Directors, respected in their fields of natural resources, education or business

-Sharon Angle
-Ian Heatwole
-Lee Beam
-Charles Huppuch (Forestry Committee)
-Otis Bilkins
-James Boland
-Rick Layser
-Brian McReynolds
-Becky Earhart
-Crawford Patterson, II
-DuBose Egleston, Jr.
-Allen Norheim -Roy Stephenson, Treasurer
Directors and Associate Directors serve the District as volunteers.

2008 Headwaters Committee Members

Headwaters SWCD Staff

Cathy Perry, Sandy Greene, and John Kaylor

Bobby Drumheller

Joelle Hackney

-John Kaylor, Conservation Specialist, john.kaylor@va.nacdnet.net
-Cathy Perry, Office Administrator, cathy.perry@va.nacdnet.net
-Sandy Greene, Conservation Education Specialist, sandy.greene@va.nacdnet.net
-Bobby Drumheller, Conservation Technician, robert.drumheller@va.nacdnet.net
-Joelle Hackney, Conservation Technician, adrian.hackney@va.nacdnet.net

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

Bobby Whitescarver and Lori Hillman

Martha Cowles

-Robert N. Whitescarver, District Conservationist, bobby.whitescarver@va.usda.gov
-Lori Hillman, Soil Conservationist, lori.hillman@va.usda.gov
-Martha Cowles, Administrative Support, martha.cowles@va.usda.gov
-Kevin Craun, CREP Farmer-Advocate (through a grant from the Agua Fund and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation)

At the Headwaters SWCD, we also...

-Offer free conservation technical assistance to all citizens, along with our partnering agencies
-Maintain, inspect and make repairs for 16 flood control dams, nine of which have early warning flood detection devices
-Over the past three years, gave 146 classroom presentations to 4,673 students, organized 55 student field trips, 20 teacher workshops and tours and 33 civic programs. Three different teams from Headwaters have become the Virginia State Champion Envirothon team for the past three years.
-Defend over 600 acres in 23 riparian conservation easements, which help landowners establish and conserve riparian buffers to improve water quality and serve as wildlife corridors
-Hold a Tree Seedling Sale each year (for the past 11 years) making native trees available to landowners (in smaller quantities)

Headwaters Soil & Water Conservation District programs, activities and employment opportunities are available to all people regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability or political affiliation.
An Equal Opportunity Employer.

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