Navigating On-farm Solutions on a Unique Landscape

The Hull Farm during tree planting, December 2025

Allie Maxwell Hull’s farm sits on distinct topography near the Potomac River in Hightown, Virginia. The farm has been in the family since the 1700s, and Allie’s granddaughter will be the 18th generation on the farm. Reflecting on the changes she has observed throughout her time on the land, Allie realized it was time to take action.

Beef cattle grazing, May 2026

The farm needed improved infrastructure for its cattle operation, the topsoil of the creek banks and sinkholes needed stabilizing, and the family was excited for any opportunity to improve wildlife habitat on the farm. About two years ago, Allie contacted the Alliance to ask about tree planting programs, and a full-farm conservation project quickly emerged.

Allie shares an update on her water situation from her newly planted buffer, May 2026

Karst topography is known for its sinkholes, caverns, and disappearing streams, which form when slightly acidic water dissolves alkaline bedrock like limestone. This chemical interaction makes karst a dynamic and unpredictable environment – streams disappear underground and reappear elsewhere, springs go dry and pop up somewhere else, and sinkholes slowly form and increase surface water connectivity to ground water.

Allie has witnessed all of these phenomena on her farm, listing dozens of small springs, sinks, and caves that had opened or closed over the years. While this is a natural geologic process, there are important steps agricultural producers can take to stabilize their topsoil and protect surface and groundwater from nutrient and sediment loading. For graziers, these steps are typically surface water exclusion, buffer planting, alternative watering systems, and rotational grazing.

Highland County is remote, with steep topography and narrow roads, and is a difficult place to bring many contractors, especially well drillers. Karst topography makes well drilling more of a gamble- it’s difficult to predict if you’ll hit ground water at 250ft or need to go 700ft or more. The steep, rocky terrain makes installation of waterlines and fenceposts extra tricky – rock breaking fees alone can break a project’s budget. Because of this potential expense, many producers like Allie rely on creeks and streams to water their animals, and forgo building a fence to support rotational grazing.

After decades of exposure to livestock traffic, the steep creek banks and hillsides on Allie’s property were beginning to show signs of failure. After several seasons of severe drought, creeks were no longer a reliable way to water the animals. These combined challenges meant the farm needed stream exclusion and buffer plantings, and a new well and alternative watering system if the family wanted to continue keeping livestock in the future.

Allie and Shannon Gaffey, Alliance VA Agriculture Projects Coordinator, walk the pastures ahead of fence installation, May 2026

Luckily, this approach was well-aligned with the family, who were excited to add more biodiversity and wildlife habitat to the property. Utilizing the Alliance’s Buffer Bonus Incentive Program, over nine acres of new buffer were planted across the farm, and incentive funds set aside to act as gap funding to help cover expenses from fence and watering system projects.

Buffers are for sinkholes and caves too – crews plant a back field with sensitive karst features.

Allie and Alliance staff checking in on the trees after a spring of late freezes, May 2026

Allie worked with the Natural Resource Conservation Service to map out divisional fence lines in her existing pasture, water lines and trough placement which would best facilitate rotational grazing. When compared to continuous grazing where animals have unrestricted access to the entire pasture, rotational grazing encourages more vigorous forage growth with deeper, more resilient root systems by giving paddocks rest and recovery time between grazing events.

These rest periods and forage plant vigor build improved soil health and stability, increasing soil organic matter and carbon sequestration over time. Improved soil health and plant vigor is especially crucial in karst topography, where nutrient runoff is a groundwater issue as well as a surface one. But, for rotational grazing to work, you need to have drinking water available to animals in each paddock, which for most farms, means drilling a well and installing a network of watering troughs.

Well drilling is notoriously difficult and expensive, especially in Highland County. Farmers often wait six months or longer on drillers’ waitlists. Unfortunately, that has been Allie’s experience, as there is only one driller who is reliably willing to travel to Highland County – three months after her first scheduled drill date she is still waiting.

Luckily, Allie’s exclusion fence was designed with a limited access point. Limited access points are narrow sections of creek access farmers can open for their animals in the event of a power outage or a well going dry, and are a critical component for exclusion projects in remote areas. They offer a form of insurance to farmers nervous about completely removing water access from their livestock, but still protect buffer plantings and stream banks from livestock impact.

Allie with her trees, May 2026

For farmers in drought conditions, and especially where streams often drop underground, limited access points can only offer a temporary solution. Beef cattle can consume up to 30 gallons of water a day, so having a reliable well and watering system is paramount. With drilling and casing costs each ranging from $30-$40 per linear foot, farmers are gambling with potential out-of-pocket costs in the tens of thousands. For working farms on tight margins, cost share funding from groups like NRCS and SWCD, and additional gap funding from the Alliance are critical. Without this support, the potential cost is often too great and the entire project – buffer, fence, and watering system all folds.

Thank you to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for funding these projects, and our partners at Verona USDA NRCS, Virginia DOF, and Mountain Valley SWCD. Funding and support for small farmers, especially during drought months, is paramount for healthy farms. These projects have an extraordinary impact on working farms in the headwaters, and help ensure that the people and places downstream in the watershed start with a higher water quality baseline.

Learn More About the Alliance’s Agriculture Efforts