Agriculture and Conservation Leaders Celebrate Earth Day 2006 With Riparian Buffers to Protect Chesapeake Bay Waters

State Conservationist Virginia (Ginger) L. Murphy of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Lewis R. Riley, State Executive Director Liz Anderson of the USDA Farm Service Agency and other conservation leaders celebrated Earth Day (photo) by planting the one millionth tree in Frederick County through a USDA conservation program, the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). The tree will be part of a new riparian buffer on a beef and crop farm along a tributary that eventually flows to the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.

The planting will showcase the positive value of agricultural conservation partnerships and tree buffers on protecting water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Maryland was the first state in the nation to establish a CREP program in 1997. About eight million CREP trees have been planted across the state through the program.

Earth Day was celebrated on Hunting Lotte farm, the family farm of Carl and Norma Miller in Mount Airy, Maryland. “This farm is a working landscape that includes riparian buffer systems and conservation practices that will help protect water quality and improve wildlife habitat – all at the same time. By fencing the cattle out of the stream, they have cleaner water to drink and the streambanks are protected from erosion. It’s part of a conservation plan that addresses all natural resources, here on the farm and beyond,” said Murphy.

“The farm’s stream is part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and will eventually drain into the Potomac River and the Bay. It’s important for people to remember that their actions impact the Bay’s watershed; regardless of how close or far they are from the water. And this fact is something that farmers embrace – as they install conservation practices, many at their own cost, to protect natural resources.”

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