Landowner Vignette

 
Landowner: Charles Barnes
Location: New Castle, Virginia
Type of Operation: Pastured Beef and Pork

Making Conservation His Business

When the Outdoor Writers Association of America were coming to Virginia for their national meeting and wanted to tour a conservation farm, everyone agreed they should go to the Barnes farm. Located high in the Blue Ridge Mountains and bordered on all sides by national forests, Charles and Marilyn Barnes have made conservation their business.

The 780 acre Barnes farm sits at the western most end of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Charles Barnes is a businessman and a conservationist. He uses conservation to sustain the natural resources that are both the source of his livelihood and a legacy for his children. Charles manages his pastureland using intensive rotational grazing. To protect water quality, cattle are fenced out of Barbours Creek, a beautiful fishing stream that runs through the farm. An alternative watering system provides water to each of the paddocks. Since wetlands are scarce in the mountains, he created a shallow water pond and a small wetland to provide habitat for waterfowl and other species. Charles also planted a mixture of cool and warm season grasses to keep something growing on the steep hillsides year round. Next to the pastures, he planted field borders to provide food and cover for deer, wild turkeys and birds.

When Charles talks about the farm, it is evident he is passionate about maintaining the health and beauty of the forests and other natural resources. He carries out timber stand improvement and reforestation according to a forest management plan, and has installed water bars and other erosion control measures on logging roads to reduce erosion.

“I couldn’t have done it without the financial and technical assistance from the federal, state and local partners,” says Charles. This is a business. We love the land and the wildlife, but it costs money to put in these practices and the margins on a family farm are slim. Watching Charles point to aerial photos of the farm dating back forty-five years, it is clear he is an articulate and persuasive spokesman for conservation.

A sign at the entrance to the farm shows he was Virginia’s Outstanding Tree Farmer in 1993. More recently, he was named Farmer of the Year by the Mountain Castles Soil and Water Conservation District. Charles works with the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy to perpetuate Galloway cows and Tamworth hogs. He has also hosted numerous farm tours to show that conservation can benefit farmers who make their living from the land, as well as the neighbors who live downstream.

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