On Sunday, March 22, TCWA hosted its first ever live stake planting workshop. Fifteen volunteers gathered at a farm along the Totier Creek and planted 500 native live stakes – black willow, alder, and elderberry – in under an hour! We had all ages out – kudos to our youngest volunteer (2 years old!) who successfully planted a stake or two on his own with the help of a jaunty yellow toddler-sized mallet.
Nicola McGoff of Wild Ginger Field Services facilitated the event and explained why it is so important to introduce more native plants to wetland and riparian areas. Not only do native plants provide habitat and food for wildlife, but they also bioengineer flood resiliency and help absorb excess nutrients from agricultural runoff.
To understand what it’s like for a plant to experience a flood, imagine one of those conveyor belt sushi restaurants. As the little plates leisurely roll past, diners can easily help themselves at their own pace. Now imagine the conveyor belt jumps up to full throttle, with sushi whizzing past and spattering bits of fish and rice in every direction. The diners haven’t a prayer of grabbing anything for dinner. They’re just hanging on to their seats, dodging projectile sushi rolls!
This is exactly what it’s like for plants in rapid water. When water ambles along at a gentle pace, it’s easy for the plants to grab their “food” — the nutrients that are carried in the water. But when the water races past, as in a flood, all the plants can do to hang on by their roots. Planting more trees and shrubs in wetland and riparian areas slows the flow of water, allowing plants a chance to actually absorb the nutrients flowing past them rather than letting the nutrients wash down into the Chesapeake Bay.
Slowing surface water is only one consideration for riparian plantings. Replenishing groundwater reserves is another. As McGoff puts it, “If you like having a well and drinking from it, it’s important to have deep rooted plants around to keep replenishing the well.” Plants don’t just physically slow the flow of water, they help direct water into the ground.
As data centers, CAFOs, and other industrial developments encroach on Virginia’s rural areas, more and more private drinking wells will be at risk. It’s hard for a rural household or homestead to keep pace with industrial demand for shared resources. Planting more trees and shrubs is not just a matter of flood resilience, it is a matter of rural folks’ very survival.
If you are a resident in the Totier Creek Watershed with wetlands or creeks and would like to host volunteers for a free riparian planting event this fall or next spring, please fill out our interest form here! If you would like to source free live stakes yourself to do your own planting, you may contact Jordan Bennett of the James River Association’s Upper & Middle James Riparian Consortium to express your interest in securing bundles of stakes for next year’s planting season.
