Inspiring Personal Responsibility for our Environment and Natural Resources
-
Conservation Capsules (Classroom Education)
-
Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE)
-
Envirothon
-
Free Technical Assistance
-
Conservation Plans
-
Nutrient Management Plans
-
Soil Sampling
-
State Cost-Share/
Tax-Credit Programs
-
Conservation Capsules (Classroom Education)
-
Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE)
-
Envirothon
-
Adopt-A-Stream
-
Water Quality Monitoring
-
Chemical Monitoring
-
Floatables Monitoring
-
Plastic Pollution
-
Virginia Conservation Assistance Program (VCAP)
-
Gardener's Gold (brochure on farms that have free manure/compost available)
Youth Education, Water Quality, and Home Owners services are available to City of Manassas and Manassas Park residents! All services are available to Prince William County residents.
Our website is getting a much needed make-over! Stay tuned!
​
Check out our latest Conservation InFarmation Newsletter, Summer 2026 Issue 11, Vol. 1
​​
Due to the Drought, State of Emergency Declared to Support Virginia Farmers
Highlights:​​​
-
NRCS Financial Assistance Programs
Deadline Oct. 30, 2026 -
Youth Conservation Leadership Institute
Deadline Oct. 8, 2026
-
Upcoming Equine SeminarOct. 23, 2026 - Fredericksburg, VA
Hay Clearing House - last updated July 13, 2026
NRCS - State Programs
Virginia NRCS offers a variety of financial assistance programs such as:
​
-
EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program): Provides financial and technical assistance to Virginia farmers with their conservation initiatives. Priorities for this program include: enhancing water and soil quality for crop and/or livestock production, maintaining or becoming a certified organic farm, improving habitats for wildlife, etc.
-
CIG (Conservation Innovation Grants): Grant opportunity to help “find market-based solutions to today's resource challenges and test tools, technologies and strategies for next-generation conservation activities on America’s working lands… These innovative on-the-ground conservation activities include pilot projects and field demonstrations.”
-
CSP (Conservation Stewardship Program): Provides financial assistance for installing and maintaining conservation practices or adopting a crop rotation system
-
ACEP (Agricultural Conservation Easement Program): Protects Virginia’s Natural heritage by keeping working farms in agriculture while simultaneously removing and restoring wetlands from agricultural production.
-
Northern Bobwhite in Working Grasslands: Provides financial assistance for practices that are designed to reestablish habitats for the Northern Bobwhite quail on agricultural land.
-
CREP (Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program): Collaborative program between NRCS and the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). CREP “aims to improve Virginia's water quality and wildlife habitat by offering financial incentives, cost-share, and rental payments to farmers who voluntarily restore riparian forest buffers, grass and shrub buffers, and wetlands” utilizing Best Management Practices (BMPs).​
For more information on these programs, check out Virginia NRCS's website.
​
Deadline to submit your application is October 30, 2026.
Youth Conservation Leadership Institute
Drought Update
As of June 30, 2026, 72 Virginia counties and cities were approved for Secretarial disaster declarations due to drought (Prince William County is currently classified as contiguous). Drought disaster
assistance includes FSA emergency loans. Provided eligibility requirements are met, FSA will assess each emergency loan application individually to consider specific circumstances and needs. Farmers in eligible localities have eight months from the date of disaster declaration to apply for emergency loans. Also, note that the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) and Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish (ELAP) are available to producers in these disaster-declared localities.
If you are in immediate need of hay or are seeking to acquire hay to help get through the fall and winter, please fill out this Drought 2026 - Hay Assistance Form. For questions or more information regarding the drought hay relief effort please contact Ms. Stephanie Cornnell at scornnell827@gmail.com.
-
For more information on how droughts are monitored by DEQ, visit: https://www.deq.virginia.gov/water/water-quantity/drought.
-
For more information on the drought conditions for Prince William County, visit Drought.gov.
Click image below for full flyer.
PastureWise Equine
PastureWise Equine is a hands-on educational program designed to help horse owners develop healthier horses, more productive pastures, and more resilient grazing systems. Through a combination of classroom instruction and interactive field demonstrations, participants will learn how soil, forage, and horse management work together to support equine health and pasture sustainability.
​
This year, the program will be offered in THREE locations around the state!
All programs will run from 8:30 am - 4:30pm
$20 registration fee per person will include lunch.
​​​
-
Friday, September 18th
Powhatan, VA 23139 -
Friday, October 23rd
Fredericksburg, VA 22407
​​
For more information and to register, go to the PastureWise website.
Governor's Environmental Excellence Award 2026
The Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District was one of the winners for the Governor's Environmental Excellence Award 2026 for the Water Quality Program. From DEQ's website: "The Governor’s Environmental Excellence Awards recognize successful and innovative efforts that improve Virginia’s environment. The awards program is run annually by DEQ in partnership with the Department of Conservation and Recreation. There are five broad categories of awards: Environmental & Sustainability Program, Environmental & Sustainability Project, Land Conservation, Green Commonwealth, and implementation of the Virginia Outdoors Plan. Please note that each category has its own application."
​
The District's Water Quality Program was one of the Silver winners. "This program promotes water quality across Prince William County through education, training, biological and chemical monitoring, and cleanup. This work is done by certifying citizen scientists, training volunteers, and deploying advanced monitoring tools. Since 2015, the program’s 14,800 volunteers have removed 430,000 pounds of debris from 760 miles of waterways."​
​Winner's are posted on DEQ's website.
For more information on the Governor's Environmental Excellence Awards, please visit DEQ's website.
Veronica Tangiri, the District's Water Quality Programs/Adopt-A-Stream Coordinator, holding the award.
Reforest Prince William County
Riparian Forests For Landowners Program
Reforest PWC is a voluntary County program that partners with private property owners to convert suitable open, grassy areas into long-term native forests at no cost to the landowner. Through an application and onsite consultation process, County Arborists work directly with participants to evaluate property conditions, identify ideal planting areas, and guide the project from planning through installation. Once approved, the County coordinates tree planting by a supervised contractor, installs protective measures to ensure successful establishment, and conducts follow-up inspections to support long-term survival. The result is a diverse, self-sustaining forest that enhances wildlife habitat, improves water quality, increases climate resilience, and provides lasting environmental benefits for both the property owner and the broader community.
​
For more information, visit the county's website. You can also come to our Farmer and Landowner Outreach Meeting (see below for more information)! County representatives will be attending and can answer any of your questions.
The Department Of Forestry's "Riparian Forests for Landowners (RFFL)" program provides flexible, no-cost riparian forest buffer installation and one year of maintenance to landowners. This program is open to private property owners including property/homeowner’s associations or civic leagues in rural, urban or suburban areas.
​
The program covers the planning, site preparation, planting, and one year of maintenance for riparian forest buffer plantings. Buffers may be pine, hardwood or a mix of both. Buffers must be at least 35 feet wide and no greater than 300 feet wide per side from the water’s edge. Land must have less than 20% coverage by invasive plant species to qualify for this program. The landowner must agree to retain the buffer as forest for 15 years.
For more information, visit Virginia Department of Forestry's website.
About Us
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.
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!
​
-
Find out what serves the District provides. This will tell you who from District staff can help you out!
-
Here is a list of recourses for services the District does not provide. 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, City of Manassas, or Manassas Park? Find out how to contact your local soil and water conservation district!
?
?
Freedom of Information Act
Rights of Requesters and the Responsibilities of the Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act: The Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), located § 2.2-3700 et. seq. of the Code of Virginia, guarantees citizens of the Commonwealth and representatives of the media access to public records held by public bodies, public officials, and public employees. To request records from our District, direct your request to the FOIA Officer, Linda Dunn. She can be reached at 8850 Rixlew Lane, Manassas, VA 20109, phone (571) 379-7514, email pwswcd@pwswcd.org.