• 2023 Clean Water Farm Awardee:

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The Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries have 11,684 miles of shoreline—more than the entire U.S. west coast.  Approximately 51 billion gallons of water flow into the Bay each day.  It is important we all do our part to keep our waterways clean so we are pleased to recognize farmers who are good stewards of our soil and water resources.  The Clean Water Farm award, is a State award sponsored by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, DCR, given to Virginia farmers who implement nutrient management plans and are exemplary in their protection of the State’s soil and water resources. The 2023 Clean Water Farm Award was presented to Shelton Alley.  Shelton settled on the Eastern Shore in 2010 in a home surrounded by approximately 100 acres of farmland, 100 acres of marshland, and 100 acres of woodlands. Prior to calling the Eastern Shore home, he grew up in Northern Virginia and spent 10 years living in Puerto Rico. He worked with his uncle on their family farm raising cattle and growing coffee, plantains, teak, and limes.  Shelton participates in District cost share programs and maintains a crop rotation a corn, soybean, wheat and cover crop in hopes to turn his farm over to the next generation in better shape than when he acquired it. Using this rotation, he hopes to deplete the Eastern Shore’s excessive weed bank.  His lightweight UTV pull behind sprayer allows for precision spraying practices while limiting soil compaction and disturbance. Shelton uses no-till equipment to reduce soil erosion and nutrient runoff into the sea and freshwater waterways. Since Shelton has been actively farming his tillable acres, he has maintained an annual nutrient management plan with the district through funding from the NM-1A practice. Through the small grain cover & vetch cover crop programs through the district, He has consistently planted a fall cover crop. This fall, his vetch cover was aerially applied. His most recent project of a handmade roller-crimper will allow for him to incorporate his legume cover crop into the soil to increase the soil’s available nitrogen and decrease the use of chemicals.  Along with farming, Steward is an avid steward of the environment. When he first moved into his home here, his first undertaking was controlling the invasive phragmites on the marsh. He observed the diamondback terrapins struggling to return to the marsh after laying eggs on mainland. Using manual and chemical methods, he has cleared practically all of the invasive species. The native grasses have returned.  One of his irrigation ponds of his property was built in the 1950’s and is full of wildlife. He quickly found that elvers, young eels, utilized the freshwater pond during their maturation process but struggled to return to the sea when they were biologically ready. He constructed a form of ladder that allows them an easier enter and exit into the pond during higher tides. Avian species are also very important to Mr. Alley, he has planted button bushes and built nesting boxes for wood ducks. He has created soft edges along  his property lines for quail habitats and planted food sources to allow for the quail to have food for all four seasons.  The staff and Board of Eastern Shore SWCD felt Shelton was well deserving of this award and was a model steward of the land so much so, they also nominated him for the Grand Coastal Basin Award .