This fall, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's (CBF) Virginia Office will begin an innovative pilot project that will speed the restoration of riparian buffers and wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

The" Acorns to Acres" project will call upon volunteers in the Tappahannock and Richmond areas to collect acorns to be used in a specially designed mechanized planter that will be made available to a variety of conservation groups and landowners for
seeding acorns on riparian and wetland restoration projects.

Funded by a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation (NFWF), " Acorns to Acres" will help reduce the flow of excess nutrients from agricultural lands by helping to increase the acreage of forested stream buffers and wetlands in
the Bay watershed. .

Also this fall, an "Outreach Project" will begin with grant funding from NFWF and the Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment. The funding will allow CBF to increase outreach and technical
assistance to Shenandoah Valley landowners who want to implement conservation practices on their farmland. Restoring riparian buffers, fencing livestock from streams, and creating wetlands are just some the of the conservation practices available to farmers for reducing nutrient inputs to the Bay.

CBF will work with a host of state, federal, and private partners to ensure that these efforts are successful. For more information on these exciting new endeavors, please contact Ann Jennings at
[email protected], Chesapeake Bay Foundation Staff.