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Watershed Steward - Jeff Long
Submitted by Mike Kay,
Maryland Forest Service
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 The Long Family Farm
The Long Family farm is located in the east central part of Frederick County near New Market. Mr. Long decided to reforest a section of his property that was adjacent to his home and which laid in a floodplain adjacent to a stream. This unnamed stream empties into Linganore Creek a short distance to the east. Jeff heard about the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) and decided to contact the Natural Resources Conservation Service to inquire about the program. NRCS Planner, Holly Boyer met with Mr. Long and determined that much of the proposed planting site did indeed qualify for CREP. That portion of the property that did not, qualified for another program administered by the MD Forest Service known as the Woodland Incentive Program.
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The family dog patrols the plantation looking for that perfect post.
He also does a good job chasing deer away. |
Mr. Long enrolled into these programs during the summer of 2008 with a scheduled planting during the spring of 2009. Seedlings were purchased through the State of Maryland Nursery, and a planting contractor was retained to conduct the planting. Jeff ordered some pin and swamp white oak, paw paw, green ash, black locust, persimmon, crabapple, and redbud for the buffer planting. Jeff also utilized white pine, red oak, redbud, and crab apple for the planting of a more elevated area outside of CREP. The seedlings were planted during March of 2009; with the Long family putting up the tree protectors. Jeff decided to do this himself to save money and to put his family to work. Doing a portion of the project himself also appealed to Jeff.
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Jeff admires the growth of a redbud seedling. |
We had ideal weather during 2009 and the planting was very successful having a 94% survival rate. Seedling growth averaged 2’ – 4’ growth for the first season with some of the locust growing nearly 8’ in height. Jeff maintained a regular mowing schedule to keep weeds from overtopping the trees but he allowed the grasses to grow fairly high around his pine trees to help hide these evergreens from the deer which will be searching out succulent growth this winter. Jeff accepts the fact that some pine will be eaten and has ordered 100 pines to fill in this area next spring. Jeff is very proud of his new planting and excited about the very good results.
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