The Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District (PWSWCD or District) is focused on protecting and enhancing our water and soil resources by providing leadership in the conservation of soil, water, and related resources to all Prince William County citizens through technical assistance, information, and education.

Services

Agriculture

• Free Technical Assistance for Traditional Ag. and Horse Farms

• Conservation Plans

• Nutrient Management Plans

• Soil Sampling

• State Cost-Share/ Tax-Credit Programs

Youth Education

• Conservation Capsules (Classroom Education)

• Farm Field Days

• Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE)

• Arbor Day

Water Quality

• Adopt-A-Stream

• Water Quality Monitoring

• Floatables Monitoring

Home Owners

• VCAP

• Gardener's Gold

• Pollinators Corner

Want to show support for water quality projects? Then check out the Chesapeake Bay License Plate! Click here for an application.

Is this a District Question?

We get lots of questions every day and we want to make sure you are guided in the right direction!

• For services the District provides, click here. This will tell you who from District staff can help you out!

• For services the District does not provide, click here. If your question is not on the list, contact any of us and we'll do our best to help!

• Got questions, but not in Prince William County (or City of Manassas)? Click here for information on how to contact your local soil & water conservation district!

Congratulations to our new directors!

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* Will A. Lintner

* Mansimran S. Kahlon

* Tiziana Bottino

Cost Share Projects

​Cost Share funding is available from the District! These funds provide financial assistance for agricultural landowners and operators to implement best management practices on their properties in order to improve soil and water quality. If you have a natural resources concern on your farm, now is the time to talk with district staff about developing a plan to address these concerns! We can provide cost-share funding for practices to address:​

• soil erosion on crop and pasture land

• *exclude livestock from waterways

• implement nutrient management plans

• adopt new precision nutrient application technology

• establish tree plantings along streams

• plant cover crops

• construct manure storage facilities

In order to qualify for cost-share, your farm must meet the following:

• Property has/had a water quality concern (e.g. livestock has/had access to a waterway, no manure storage system, no cover crops when main crops aren’t growing)

• Property must have at least 5 consecutive acres

• Property has been in agriculture production for the past 5 years

• Property has produced at least $1,000 worth of agriculture products/year (agriculture products include crops, hay, and livestock, such as cattle, equine, sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, etc. Horses solely for personal use are not considered as agriculture products.)

• Property is located in Prince William County (if your farm outside of Prince William, contact your local soil and water conservation district; to find your district, click here.)

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If you feel you have a need to implement these practices on your farm, or have any questions about the cost-share program, please contact us:

(571) 379-7514

Nicole Slazinski - nicoleethier@pwswcd.org

Mike Miller - conservation@pwswcd.org

Jay Yankey - jayyankey@pwswcd.org

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For more information on our specific cost-share programs, click here.

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If you're already doing everything you can on your farm to best protect the soil and water, consider signing up for a voluntary practice! Contact Nicole Slazinski - nicoleethier@pwswcd.org for more information.

USDA’s New Conservation Funding Now Available Through NRCS Partnership Project with Sustainable Chesapeake

Farmers in Virginia’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed can now apply for $1,363,240 in funding from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to implement enhanced nutrient management and soil health practices in the Coastal Plain and Northern Piedmont.

Offered in cooperation with Sustainable Chesapeake, this Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) project seeks to improve water quality in local streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay. Focal practices will include enhanced nutrient management, cover crops, and conservation tillage practices such as no-till.
 

Interested individuals should call or visit their local office to confirm eligibility and complete an application by January 18, 2019 to be considered for FY19 funding. If all funds are not obligated, the next deadlines will be February 15, 2019 and the third Friday of each succeeding month through early summer. Prince William County residents can contact the Warrenton office at 98 Alexandria Pike # 31, Warrenton, VA 20186, (540) 347-3120.

“Projects like this one help landowners become more invested in implementing innovative solutions to conservation problems,” said NRCS State Conservationist Jack Bricker. “Participating producers will realize immediate and long-term financial and production benefits, such as improved operational efficiency, reduced input costs, increased soil moisture, and enhanced drought resiliency.”
 

Created in the 2014 Farm Bill, RCPP empowers local leaders to work with a variety of partners to design conservation solutions that work best for their regions. Sustainable Chesapeake is the lead partner in this tri-state project focused on accelerating the adoption of precision nutrient management and soil health practices in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to work with Virginia NRCS, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Virginia Grain Producers Association, Virginia Tech, and precision ag technical service providers and Soil and Water Conservation Districts to bring these additional funding resources to farmers in the project area,” said Kristen Hughes Evans, Sustainable Chesapeake’s Executive Director. “With all the variability in weather and commodity crop prices that farmers deal with every year, the financial assistance programs that NRCS provides are critical to expanding the adoption of conservation practices that strengthen farm financial viability and protect natural resources.”

For more information on Virginia RCPP projects, visit www.va.nrcs.usda.gov. To learn more about Sustainable Chesapeake’s projects/activities, visit www.susches.org.

Nutrient Management: An Important Message for Producers

The 2025 Chesapeake Bay cleanup goals are here, and we need every farmer's help! We need documentation of implementation of every nutrient management plan in Prince William County. Here's what you can do to help:

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• Work with your nutrient management planner to develop a plan that can be implemented easily

• Keep application and yield records

• Put in place a record-keeping system so you can justify application and yield data. This must include required elements such as dates, field locations, loads, bales, bushels, gallons of manure, tons of litter, etc.

• Share this record-keeping system with your planner.

• Update your plan as changes occur on the farm.

• Be prepared at the end of the growing season to evaluate how well you were able to follow your plan.

If you have questions, please contact your nutrient management planner:

(571) 379-7514

• Mike Miller

• Nicole Slazinski

• Jay Yankey

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You can also call the DCR Warrenton Regional Office at 540-351-1501 or 540-351-1570.

For more information, click here.

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Below are some record-keeping sheets to further assist you:

• Nutrient Management Field Records Sheet

• Nutrient Management Plan Records

• Nutrient Application Calculations Records

• Manure Analysis Results Records

• Soil Test Results Records

• Nutrient Management Record Sheet for Overseeding Pastures

• Nutrient Management Records (All of the records above combined)

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Thank you for another excellent Farm Field Days! Hope to see you next year!

Farm Field Days

2017 Clean Water Farm Award

Greenville Farm - Congratulations to Thomas and Alisha Latham and family, owners of Greenville Farm and Family Campground, located on Shelter Lane in Haymarket, for being the recipients of the 2017 Clean Water Farm Award.. The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation recognizes Virginia farmers who implement conservation practices for doing their part to preserve water quality. These individuals are role models who encourage stewardship in others.

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Thomas is the fifth generation in his family since the farm was founded in 1828. He is the primary individual responsible for day to day operations of the farm. The farm maintains a herd of approximately 150 beef cattle, 270 acres of field crops and 90 acres of hay are raised to support the cattle and sale. In 1967 the Family Campground was added to the operation, which currently consists of 43 wooded acres developed for all types of camping from tents to RV's.

Conservation of soil and water resources has been a long-time cornerstone for the management of Greenville Farm that has enabled them to maintain nearly two centuries of continuous agricultural production. Mr. Latham's father began working with Northern Virginia SWCD and SCS on conservation plans and practices in the 1970's and 1980's. The current generation has continued to be good stewards of the land by installing, maintaining, and/or upgrading conservation practices over the years and participating in cost-share funds.

The Board meets monthly at 8033 Ashton Avenue, Manassas,Conference Room B. Citizens may have a voice in local natural resources issues by attending these meetings and taking part in District programs.

TRC = Technical Review Committee    BOD = Board