By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Just in time for Earth Day, members of the Honors Section of the Conservation Biology Class at WVU volunteered with Friends of the Cheat to plant native trees along the banks of the river at Camp Kidd. The activity was part of the Friends of the Cheat’s Riparian Reforestation project in the area. Project Coordinator Garrett Richardson with Friends of the Cheat was on hand at the event. “We are doing a Riparian Tree Planting,” Richardson said. “They are reforesting the area directly next to, adjacent to, water.”
Richardson said he is working in collaboration with the Tucker County Commission on the project at Camp Kidd. According to Tucker County Commission President Mike Rosenau, the project is being completed at no cost to the County. “I have been working with Mike and the Tucker County Commission to do this project,” Richardson said.
Funding for the program, according to Richardson comes from a grant through the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). “We have a grant program that we have been doing the last four years,” Richardson said. “Its a grant through NRCS which is a Federal agency, so they provided the grant funding and we work with private land owners in the Cheat Watershed.”
The Riparian Reforestation Project, according to Friends of the Cheat, is a program designed to assist land owners, at no cost, to assist with bank loss, instability and erosion to land along the Cheat River and its Tributaries. “There are many ecological benefits to having trees planted along the banks,” Richardson said. “It provides stabilization to the bank. It reduces sedimentation, it improves water quality.”
According to Richardson, the project is planting native trees along the bank. The species being planted at Camp Kidd include: American Sycamore, River Birch, White Oak, Red Maple and Tulip Poplar, Richardson said. The focus, according to Richardson, is on diversity along the bank with more water tolerant species are planted closest to the river with other native species planted farther out. “Closer to the water, we like more water tolerant species like River Birch and Sycamores because the river get up so high…that’s why you’ll see pretty much only Sycamores really surviving up close to the river,” Richardson said.
A Riparian Area is defined by Friends of the Cheat as land directly next to a body of water, such as a stream or river. Friends of the Cheat also state that mature trees in these areas protect fields from flood waters, reduce erosion and bank loss, as well as help to filter agricultural runoff and improve water quality in the river. “Historically, in this area and many areas, we’ve deforested,” Richardson said. “We’ve taken trees out for farming and for development and over time you’ve seen that cumulative effect and there’s water quality issues and habitat issues from that.”
According to Richardson the Riparian Reforestation Project is ongoing. Richardson said that the Friends of the Cheat are always looking for volunteers to assist with the project. “This isn’t the only day we’re here,” Richardson said. “We’ll be out here a few more days.”
While the project cannot be completed in one weekend, Richardson said that the availability of volunteers will determine when his organization can next work at the site. “It would be nice if we could do a longer haul like a whole weekend,” Richardson said. “But, right now we are just picking days and so this group was able to do it on a weekend so we took this opportunity.”
For more information on the Riparian Reforestation Project at Camp Kidd or to volunteer, email Garrett Richardson at grichardson@cheat.org or call (304) 329-3621 ext. 4.
