Farmers offered incentives to protect grassland birds

October 31 - The Virginia Grassland Bird Initiative recently announced the opening of its incentives program for landowners and farmers. Now through Nov 30, farmers in 16 counties across the Blue Ridge, northern Virginia Piedmont, and now also in the Shenandoah Valley can apply for financial incentives to implement practices that help support nesting grassland birds during the 2026 haying and grazing season.

“Delayed haying until at least July 1 is a game changer for birds, because it allows them to fledge at least one successful clutch of young. But it also lets producers strategically spread out labor requirements during the hay cutting season, and the higher-fiber, more mature hay resulting from delayed haying is good for feeding dry cows, horses, and retired animals, as well as for mushroom hay and bedding,” said Lauria McShane, PEC’s VGBI assistant.

A bobolink nest in a grassland field. Image Credit Bernadette Ridgely

Funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, VGBI provides tools and technical assistance and pays farmers up to $35 per acre in exchange for: 1) delaying the first cut of hay until July 1 or later; and/or 2) rotating livestock out of select fields between April 15 and July 1 or later. Farmers can learn more about the program and apply at: vagrasslandbirds.org/incentives/.

Rotating livestock out of certain fields in early spring is called summer pasture stockpiling, and it “bridges the summer dormancy gap by providing standing forage in late summer without the risk and expense of planting summer annuals. Stockpiling also allows fields to rest for fall or winter stockpiling with the goal of reducing the days that hay is fed and, therefore, reducing annual feed cost,” McShane said.

Isabel Bauer, one of the first Shenandoah Valley VGBI participants on her Augusta County farm, says, “my participating in the VGBI Initiative brought home the realization that rotational grazing, which includes summer stockpiling, is key to restoring the health and balance in nature as a whole.”

On Francis McGuigan’s farm in Greene County, “the results were dramatic,” he said, pointing out a flock of at least 30 goldfinches perched atop vegetation enjoying seedheads from the field on a recent check-in with McShane that’s part of the incentives program. He said that in the past, he’d only see a couple of goldfinches fly over the field in any given year. “Not only did the bird population increase, but so did the insect, small mammal and amphibian populations. We saw and heard the results all summer. I’m proud that my small farm is supporting ecosystem expansion and resilience through VGBI’s summer pasture stockpiling program,” McGuigan said.

In Albemarle County, Michelle McKenzie enrolled Bellair Farm in both the delayed haying and summer pasture stockpiling programs in 2024. The increase in grassland birds has been so significant that McKenzie has hosted bird walks with the Virginia Society of Ornithology’s Piedmont Bird Club. “I would absolutely recommend this program to others. Interacting with the VGBI staff has also provided networking opportunities and discussions about other programs that we’re getting involved in,” McKenzie said. Those include four kestrel boxes and a barn owl box, which McShane monitors in spring and summer.

Entering its fifth year, the Virginia Grassland Bird Initiative is a collaborative effort of Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley, Shenandoah Valley Conservancy, Piedmont Environmental Council, Smithsonian’s Virginia Working Landscapes, Quail Forever, and American Farmland Trust working together with landowners and farmers to restore grassland habitat using “regenerative” agricultural practices proven by farmers and researchers to benefit both birds and agricultural operations.

VGBI was formed in response to the 53% decline in the 60 species of native grassland birds that have adopted hayfields and pasturelands as surrogate habitat since native grasslands have suffered more intense impact by humans than any other land-based ecosystem in North America. Since 2021, 57 farmers have formally enrolled over 3,600 acres of land into the financial incentives program, while another 37 have participated voluntarily, without the financial incentives, adding another 3,700 acres of land supporting nesting grassland birds.

Producers can learn more about best management practices for Virginia’s grassland birds, native plantings for quail, nesting boxes for American kestrel, streamside plantings for wildlife and water quality, and more at: https://www.vagrasslandbirds.org/resources/

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