Submitted and written by George Mapp for CBES Shoreline

Growing up on the Eastern Shore, one of my most vivid memories of early spring is gulls laughing and swarming around tractors plowing a field. On a recent kayak trip out of Oyster, it was good to see and hear them once again.

According to a 2019 article in the Daily Press, they haven’t been doing so well. Virginia bird counts taken every 5 years to reveal a marked decline: 45,000 nesting pairs of laughing gulls in 1993; 17,000 in 2018 (as reported in March 2020 ShoreLine). Herring gulls have fared worse: from 9,000 to 2,000. Scientists attribute this to reduced marsh habitat from sea level rise.

Virginia Institute of Marine Science researcher Matt Kirwan says that the state has lost about 20% of its seaside marshes on the Eastern Shore since 1870, eroded by waves or buried as the barrier islands migrate. Gulls prefer to nest in high-elevation marshes – the most vulnerable areas.

“It’s been catastrophic,” notes William and Mary scientist Bryan Watts. “Everybody thinks of sea-level rise as something off in the distance. It’s not. It’s been happening here. For 25 years, we’ve seen this huge decline. Clapper rails, seaside sparrows, salt marsh sparrows, marsh wrens, willets – there’s a larger list of species that are experiencing the same drowning due to sea-level rise than the laughing gulls are.”

Laughing gulls breed in Virginia and winter in Central America. Gulls were some of the pesky birds in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 horror movie The Birds, and some people regard their swarms with disdain. However, we should be grateful for them – according to Watts, laughing gulls are “the ones going into the agricultural fields eating pest insects. They’re the ones you see flying above the crops feeding on insects. They’re the ones above the forest canopy feeding on insects.”

Source: Dietrich T. 2019. The Morning Call – Gone gull: Laughing gulls in Virginia are ravaged by sea-level rise. https://www.dailypress.com/ news/dp-nws-laughing-gulls-gone-20190709-story.html

Reader submitted, original story by By Ryan Swatek and Nikki Krause. Ryan Swatek is a District Conservationist and Nikki Krause is a Soil Conservationist with USDA National Resource Conservation Service in Black River Falls, Wisconsin.

Wildlife and pollinators now have a safe refuge to feed, rest, and nest on 35 acres in Jackson County, Wisconsin. In 2008, Dale and Barbara Bigler purchased a country property with the dream of restoring it to its original purpose as a prairie, creating habitat to help wildlife and pollinators thrive.

The Biglers connected with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Black River Falls with an interest in converting steep cropland acres that had been in row crops for many years into native prairie. Ryan Swatek, NRCS District Conservationist, and JD Armstrong, NRCS and Pheasants Forever Farm Bill Biologist, met with the Biglers to walk the property, discuss resource concerns, potential solutions, and goals for their land. Upon inspection, the areas of steep sloping crops were highly erodible, and gullies were present. Through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), USDA helped support the Bigler’s dream of revitalizing the land with conservation and converting it to native prairie.

NRCS partners with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) to implement CRP. A CRP initiative, called State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE), focuses on restoring critical habitat for different species, including the federally endangered Karner blue butterfly. The species resides in Jackson and Eau Claire counties, so this was the perfect opportunity to cultivate conservation by building critical habitat for the species in its prime location.

The Biglers applied for the SAFE program and were selected to enroll 5.4 acres of cropland, planting and establishing a Karner Blue Butterfly multi-species prairie mix. Dale is particularly proud of his blooming Wild Lupine flourishing on the property—the only plant species Karner Blue larvae eat, which is critical to their annual life cycle.

Once prairie habitat was established, the Biglers partnered with NRCS to focus on the cropland gullies. Dale and Barbara qualified for beginning farmer special incentives  through EQIP. NRCS defines a beginning farmer as someone who has not operated a farm for more than 10 consecutive years. In 2013, through EQIP, two grade stabilization structures, earthen or concrete structures built across a drainageway to prevent gully erosion, were installed on the property to stabilize the cropland gullies.

In 2018, Dale and Barbara were ready for the final piece of their land transformation, which was converting the rest of the remaining highly erodible cropland into wildlife and pollinator prairie habitat. The Biglers applied for and were awarded a producer contract under RCPP – a partner-driven program that funds solutions to natural resource challenges on agricultural land. Partners receive funding to address resource concerns within a given project area and then private landowners can apply to participate in the awarded RCPP project. Producers can apply through their local service center or directly with awarded partners.

The Biglers planted 5.5 more acres of a native multi-species prairie mix designed to establish critical habitat for Monarch Butterflies.

“Dale’s and Barbara’s passion for protecting their land and providing native habitat for wildlife and pollinators is inspiring. They have been a pleasure to work with over the years,” explained Swatek.

Dale and Barbara want to continue making improvements for wildlife and pollinators on their property. Dale recently installed wildlife shrubs and a wildlife food plot to compliment the prairie habitat plantings. The Biglers look forward to watching wildlife and pollinators establish on the property, thriving in an environment made for them.

USDA offers a variety of conservation programs that can help you plan and implement conservation practices on your farm, ranch, or forest. Learn more about putting conservation to work on your operation directly from farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners applying them through our Conservation at Work video series.

Original article by Ashley Miller, USDA Public Affairs Specialist.

May is American Wetlands Month, and this year we want to celebrate all the work private landowners have done to help wetlands thrive. Private landowners have worked with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to enroll over 2.8 million acres in wetland conservation easements. These wetlands protect plants and provide habitat for wildlife, including endangered or threatened species.

Wetlands are one of our most productive ecosystems and provide enrichment and enjoyment. They also filter water, reduce soil loss, sequester carbon from the atmosphere, reduce flooding, and recharge groundwater. They even provide recreational opportunities like hunting and fishing.

Wetland easements:

• Filter sediments and chemicals
• Reduce flooding
• Recharge groundwater
• Protect biological diversity
• Provide opportunities for educational, scientific, and limited recreational activities.

Farmers, ranchers, and private landowners have worked with NRCS to create, restore, and enhance wetlands for decades. They have incorporated wetlands into their operations for the benefits to the environment and their land. To help realize these benefits they have worked with us for assistance through our programs and services.

Wetland easements are also crucial to wildlife like

• The Louisiana black bear — wetlands easements have been credited for their recovery in 2019
• The Oregon chub — wetlands easements have been  credited for their recovery in 2015
• Whooping cranes — which rely on wetland easements on their cross-country treks and for raising young
• Sage grouse and other wildlife, which depend on the wet meadows of sagebrush country

NRCS offers financial and technical assistance to farmers and private landowners through programs to create, restore, and enhance wetlands. Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) Wetland Reserve Easement (WRE) offers opportunities to put marginal cropland and other eligible land into permanent and 30-year easements. NRCS accepts ACEP WRE applications year-round but applications are ranked and funded by enrollment periods. Each state sets the application deadlines for enrollment periods; contact your local service center for information.

As we celebrate the month, our producers, partners, educators, and others deserve thanks for helping to protect wetlands.

If you are interested in learning more about wetlands, please contact your local USDA Service Center to set up an in-person or phone appointment.

This article is an excerpt from The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It, written by the late John Seymour and first published by Dorling Kindersley in Britain in 1976. The book has become a treasured classic for back-to-the-landers and is now available in an illustrated 400-page edition. 

Everyone will have a different approach to keeping a self-sufficient homestead, and it’s unlikely that any two 1-acre farms will follow the same plan or methods or agree completely on how to homestead. Some people like cows; other people are afraid of them. Some people like goats; other people cannot keep them out of the garden. Some people will not slaughter animals and have to sell their surplus stock off to people who will kill them; others will not sell surplus stock off at all because they know that the animals will be killed; and still others will slaughter their own animals to provide their family with healthy meat.

For myself, on a 1-acre farm of good, well-drained land, I would keep a cow and a goat, a few pigs and maybe a dozen hens. The goat would provide me with milk when the cow was dry. I might keep two or more goats, in fact. I would have the dairy cow (a Jersey) to provide the pigs and me with milk. More importantly, I would keep her to provide heaps and heaps of lovely cow manure to increase my soil fertility, for in order to derive any sort of living from that 1 acre without the application of a lot of artificial fertilizer, it would have to be heavily manured.

Raising a Dairy Cow

Cow or no cow? The pros and cons are many and various for a self-sufficient homestead. In favor of raising a cow is the fact that nothing keeps the health of a family — and a farm — at a high level better than a dairy cow. If you and your children have ample good, fresh, unpasteurized, unadulterated dairy products, you will be well-positioned to be a healthy family. If your pigs and poultry get their share of the milk by-products, especially whey, they likely will be healthy, too. If your garden gets plenty of cow manure, your soil fertility will continuously increase, along with your yields.

On the other hand, the food that you buy in for this family cow will cost you hundreds of dollars each year. Compared with how much money you would spend on dairy products each year, the fresh milk supply from the cow plus the increased value of the eggs, poultry and pig meat that you will get, along with your ever-growing soil fertility, will quickly make a family cow a worthwhile investment. But a serious counter-consideration is that you will have to take on the responsibility of milking a cow. (For different milking plans and estimated savings, see Keep a Family Cow and Enjoy Delicious Milk, Cream, Cheese and More.) Milking a cow doesn’t take very long — perhaps eight minutes — and it’s very pleasant if you know how to do it and if she is a quiet, docile cow — but you will have to do it. Buying a dairy cow is a very important step, and you shouldn’t do it unless you do not intend to go away very much, or unless you can make arrangements for somebody else to take over your milking duties while you’re gone. So let’s plan our 1-acre farm on the assumption that we are going to keep a dairy cow.
-Advertisement-

1-Acre Farm With a Family Cow

Half of your land would be put down to grass, leaving half an acre arable (not allowing for the land on which the house and other buildings stand). The grass half could remain permanent pasture and never be plowed up at all, or you could plan crop rotations by plowing it up, say, every four years. If you do the latter, it is best done in strips of a quarter of the half-acre so that each year you’re planting a grass, clover and herb mixture on an eighth of your acre of land. This crop rotation will result in some freshly sown pasture every year, some 2-year-old field, some 3-year-old field and some 4-year-old field, resulting in more productive land.

Grazing Management 

At the first sign the grass patch is suffering from overgrazing, take the cow away. The point of strip grazing (also called intensive rotational grazing) is that grass grows better and produces more if it is allowed to grow for as long as possible before being grazed or cut all the way down, and then allowed to rest again. In such intensive husbandry as we are envisaging for this self-sufficient homestead, careful grazing management will be essential.

Tether-grazing on such a small area may work better than using electric fencing. A little Jersey cow quickly gets used to being tethered and this was, indeed, the system that the breed was developed for on the island of Jersey (where they were first bred). I so unequivocally recommend a Jersey cow to the 1-acre farmer because I am convinced that, for this purpose, she is without any peer. Your half-acre of grass, when established, should provide your cow with nearly all the food she needs for the summer months. You are unlikely to get any hay from the half-acre as well, but if the grass grows faster than the cow can eat it, then you could cut some of it for hay.

Intensive Gardening

The remaining half of your homestead — the arable half — would be farmed as a highly intensive garden. It would be divided, ideally, into four plots, around which all the annual crops that you want to grow follow each other in a strict crop rotation.

An ideal crop rotation might go something like this:

— Grass (for four years)
— Plot 1: Potatoes
— Plot 2: Legumes (pea and bean family)
— Plot 3: Brassicas (cabbage family)
— Plot 4: Root vegetables (carrots, beets, and so on)
— Grass again (for four years) 

Consider the advantages of this kind of crop rotation. A quarter of your arable land will be a newly plowed-up, 4-year-old field every year, with intensely fertile soil because of the stored-up fertility of all the grass, clover and herbs that have just been plowed-in to rot with four summers’ worth of cow manure. Because your cow will be in-wintered, on bought-in hay, and treading and dunging on bought-in straw, you will have an enormous quantity of marvelous muck and cow manure to put on your arable land. All of the crop residues that you cannot consume will help feed the cow, pigs or poultry, and I would be surprised if, after following this crop rotation and grazing management plan for a few years, you didn’t find that your acre of land had increased enormously in soil fertility, and that it was producing more food for humans than many a 10-acre farm run on ordinary commercial lines.

Half-Acre Crop Rotation

Some might complain that by having half your acre down to grass, you confine your gardening activities to a mere half-acre. But actually, half an acre is quite a lot, and if you garden it well, it will grow more food for you than if you were to “scratch” over a whole acre. Being under grass (and grazed and dunged) for half of its life will enormously increase the half-acre’s soil fertility. I think you will actually grow more vegetables on this plot than you would on a whole acre if you had no cow or grass break.

Tips for the Self-Sufficient Homestead

A dairy cow will not be able to stay outdoors all year. She would horribly overgraze such a small acreage. She should spend most of the winter indoors, only being turned out during the daytime in dry weather to get a little exercise and fresh air. Cows do not really benefit from being out in winter weather. Your cow would be, for the most part, better if kept inside where she would make lovely manure while feeding on the crops you grew for her in the garden. In the summer you would let her out, night and day, for as long as you find the pasture is not being overgrazed. You would probably find that your cow did not need hay at all during the summer, but she would be entirely dependent on it throughout the winter, and you could plan on having to buy her at least a ton. If you wanted to rear her yearly calf until he reached some value, you would likely need a further half-ton of hay. I have kept my cow on deep litter: The layer of straw gets turned into good manure, and I add more clean straw every day. I have milked a cow this way for years, and the perfect milk made good butter and cheese, and stored well. Although more labor-intensive, you could keep your cow on a concrete floor instead (insulated if possible), and giver her a good bed of straw every day. You would remove the soiled straw daily, and carefully pile it into a muck heap that would be your fount of fertility for everything on your acre.

Pigs would have to be confined in a house for at least part of the year (and you would need to provide straw for them), because, on a 1-acre farm, you are unlikely to have enough fresh land to keep them healthy. The best option would be a movable house with a strong movable fence outside it, but you could have a permanent pigpen instead.
-Advertisement-

The pigs would have a lot of outdoor work to do: They would spend part of their time plowing up your eighth of an acre of grassland, and they could run over your cultivated land after you have harvested your crops. They could only do this if you had time to let them do it, as sometimes you would be in too much of a hurry to get the next crop in. As for food, you would have to buy in some wheat, barley or corn. This, supplemented with the skim milk and whey you would have from your dairy cow, plus a share of the garden produce and such specially grown fodder crops as you could spare the land for, would keep them excellently.

If you could find a neighbor who would let you use a boar, I recommend that you keep a sow and breed her. She could give you 20 piglets a year, two or three of which you could keep to fatten for your bacon and ham supply. The rest you could sell as weanlings (piglets eight to 12 weeks old), and they would probably bring in enough money to pay for the food you had to buy for all your other livestock. If you could not get the service of a boar, you could always buy weanlings yourself — just enough for your own use — and fatten them.

Poultry could be kept in a permanent house in one corner of your garden, or, preferably, in mobile coops on the land, so they could be moved over the grassland and improve soil fertility with their scratching and dunging. I would not recommend keeping very many birds, as just a dozen hens should give you enough eggs for a small family with a few to occasionally sell or give away in summertime. You would have to buy a little grain for them, and in the winter some protein supplement, unless you could grow enough beans. You could try growing sunflowers, buckwheat or other food especially for them.

Goats, if kept instead of a dairy cow (or in addition to), could be managed in much the same way, however you would not have as much whey and skim milk to rear pigs and poultry on, and you would not build up the fertility of your land as quickly as you could with a cow. You would only get a fraction of the manure from goats, but on the other hand you would not have to buy nearly as much hay and straw — perhaps not any. For a farmer wanting to have a completely self-sufficient homestead on 1 acre, dairy goats are a good option.

Crops would be all of the ordinary garden crops (fruits and vegetables), plus as much land as you could spare for fodder crops for animals. Bear in mind that practically any garden crop that you grew for yourself would be good for the animals too, so any surplus crops would go to them. You would not need a compost pile — your animals could be your compost pile.

Half an acre, farmed as a garden with wheat grown in the other half-acre, is worth a try if you kept no animals at all, or maybe only some poultry. You would then practice a crop rotation as described above, but substitute wheat for the grass and clover field. If you are a vegetarian, this may be quite a good solution. But you could not hope to increase the soil fertility, and therefore the productiveness, of your land as much as with animals. 

NOAA Fisheries State of the Ecosystem reports are produced annually by scientists at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. They collaborate with other NOAA researchers and collaborators from academia, non-profit organizations, and state agencies.

The reports are presented annually to the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils as part of a larger, ongoing NOAA-wide initiative to advance ecosystem-based management. NOAA scientists use the Integrated Ecosystem Assessment approach to advance this type of management. They incorporate all components of an ecosystem, including human needs and activities, into the decision-making process. This approach helps managers balance trade-offs and determine what is more likely to achieve their desired goals.