×
×
homepage logo

PVAS helps neighborhoods, landowners take ecological initiative with habitat stewardship programs

By Tabitha Johnston - Chronicle Staff | May 20, 2022

PVAS Land & Conservation Manager Katelyn “KC” Walters explains the Grassland Birds Initiative, as she stands by Steamboat Run’s meadow, which is part of the program, in this Feb. 2022 file photo. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Throughout the year, the Potomac Valley Audubon Society can be seen making a difference in the Eastern Panhandle, through caring for its four nature preserves and offering regular educational programming for children and adults alike. What many people may not be aware of, is the society’s work in encouraging habitat stewardship outside of those areas, through three different programs open to local landowners and land managers: the Grassland Birds Initiative, the Protected Pollinator Patch and the Wildlife Habitat.

According to PVAS Land & Conservation Manager Katelyn “KC” Walters, each program is focused on different kinds of conservation work, based on the desired result of the work, along with the size of the available land and the land’s history. One private Shepherdstown neighborhood, Steamboat Run, has a 10-acre meadow that has now been part of one of these programs for a decade.

“We’ve been working on this for a while,” said Laurel Parker, the neighborhood member who founded the Steamboat Run committee, which decided to divide the shared neighborhood space between recreational and conservation purposes, enrolling the neighborhood’s meadow in the Grassland Birds Initiative.

“It’s cool that PVAS gives all this wealth of knowledge,” Parker said. “It’s the whole ecosystem, the whole habitat here the they’ve helped us with, not just with the birds.”

Of course, for the meadow to be enrolled in the GBI, Parker’s neighbors needed to be likeminded, in their concern over the decrease in birds and wildlife that could be seen in the meadow. According to Daan Vreugdenhil, Parker’s neighbor and fellow committee member, his experience as a tropical wildlife biologist left him with no question over whether or not the neighborhood’s meadow should be the focus of conservation efforts.

Steamboat Run’s meadow is one of about 15 Grassland Bird Initiative meadows in the Eastern Panhandle. Tabitha Johnston

“We weren’t confident that we were getting the best bird population that we could get. And, of course, the number of birds in North America is decreasing in general. We see that in the yearly Audubon bird count results,” Vreugdenhil said, referring to the Audubon Society’s research, which found that the North American bird population has decreased by 30 percent since 1970. “If you can dedicate part of your lands to help increasing the bird population by giving them back their native habitats, it all helps.”

By enrolling their land in the GBI and following the initiatives directive to provide high quality habitats for grassland birds, which are left undisturbed for the nesting season, community members are giving these species a desperately needed last chance at survival, Walters said.

“I would love it if every neighborhood would focus on ecological conservation in their plan for their meadows, not just as a soccer field or baseball pitch,” Walters said, mentioning grassland should only be mown between Oct. 1 and March 15, to avoid injuring the native bird species who nest in the ground.

In comparison, the Protected Pollinator Patch program aims to work with landowners to designate open meadows of at least one-half acre in size to provide valuable flora for the protection and conservation of our native pollinator species including bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, beetles and flies.

The Wildlife Habitat, unlike PVAS’s other two programs, does not require a minimum size of land for inclusion in conservation practices. The program focuses on fostering wildlife, through providing food, water and shelter for them. The land used to create these habitats may also incorporate necessities required to raise young, like nest boxes, and utilize other sustainable practices, such as composting or rainwater collection.

A prescribed burn, such as this one conducted by Sustainable Solutions LLC in Steamboat Run’s meadow this past February, is one of the ways PVAS recommends for ecosystem revitalization. Tabitha Johnston

To learn more, email Walters at katelyn@potomacaudubon.org or visit https://www.potomacaudubon.org and click on “Conservation” and then “Habitat Stewardship.”