Well, Amber, we're so happy that you're here today, and I love it when a forest of trees come in and hit the table here.

(laughs) We've got so much to share, but first off, what is a forested riparian buffer zone?

Let's get that straight so people know what we're talking about.

>>Yeah, it's a fancy word, but it's not a fancy thing.

Riparian forest buffers are basically the forests along our waterways, whether it's the stream, river, lake.

Think of those forests that are right along the edge.

>>Right, and what do they do for that water?

>>They are the best thing you can do for water quality, and they're wonderful places for people.

They provide so many benefits to our wellbeing.

Trees, water, and birds are the best thing for our mental health.

And where do you find those?

In a riparian forest?

They also help filter runoff from upland uses.

They help stabilize the stream banks.

They help keep the water cool and at a stable temperature by providing shade.

And forested streams are more able to process pollutants and just have more biological activity.

>>When we think of pollutants, people need to understand that's nitrogen and still phosphates, phosphorus.

Those are our two primary pollutants that we're still putting into our waterways, and that these plants can also pull out and actually sequester right there, if not process it through back into the soil.

So, classic use of, also, a rain garden.

It's all the same principle.

But you've also, in that zone, there are sub-zones, and in those sub-zones go specific plants.

So, what did you bring in with all of these piles?

>>Yep, so when we're designing a riparian forest buffer for a landowner, some of these are 0.1 acres in size up to 20-some acres, so it's large plantings.

But we still think about it in these zones.

You have the wet zone, which is down there.

We'll talk about that.

And then, sort of the lowland that might get wet sometimes- >>But not very often.

>>But not very often, but it has to tolerate that flooding.

And then, you have upland, which may flood every now and then, but- >>Generally dry.

>>Needs to be able to tolerate being dry for a period of time.

>>So, I think I see you've got one of your favorite for the uplands to start with.

>>Yeah, so when people think of fruiting native trees, they think pawpaws.

But another fun one is the persimmon.

You can see it's already starting to fruit, here.

It fruits in fall through winter and wildlife love them, so that's a great one.

>>Yes, and I will tell people, do not eat this until a frost has fixed it.

(laughs) >>Correct, it needs to look almost like, wrinkly and not great, yeah, and that's when you wanna eat it.

>>So, it converts those starches to sugars, or you'll pucker up.

But I see some oaks in there, and I see some dogwoods and other things, so common trees in our landscape, or the uplands.

>>Yeah, and dogwoods are a great one on the upland part, because it's usually along the edge of the buffer where people can see it.

So, that one's a great one.

>>Okay, but in our next zone up, your other favorite one is also a fruit-bearer.

And I think I'm gonna put it upside down so people can see it more.

Let's see if we can get it over here.

But this is more of a shrub.

>>Yep, this is a spicebush.

Very common understory shrub in our riparian forests.

You don't have to do much to get these things growing and going.

You can see the little red berries starting here.

And you'll know it's spicebush, if you're wondering, you can grab the leaf and smell it, and it will smell.

It has a very spicy smell to it.

>>It has a wonderful smell.

But also in this pile, we have some black walnuts and some other types of oaks, such as our willow oaks and some, I'll say hornbeams and such are in here.

But then we get to the wet area and we get to one of my favorite plants, which is right through here.

>>Yeah, this is a really fun one.

This gets to be a large shrub, the buttonbush, and you can see why it's called that with these really fun flowers that form, here.

Butterflies love them.

They love wet areas, do really great.

And just, those spots where you can't get much else to grow, these will do great.

>>Yeah, really super wet areas.

You'd be surprised.

But in this pocket here are also red maples, and even some lower species like our, I'll say bald cypress, and even our sycamores, again.

>>Yeah, sycamores are, out of riparian forests, that is really the champion tree of the riparian forest.

They grow really fast.

And when we're thinking about what species to plant, we love to plant a lot of fast growers and then mix in some slow-growing things.

>>Super, well, we've got more to talk about.

>>Yeah, keep going.

>>So, I'm gonna keep going, 'cause planting these is not like, typically, what we think.

And I'm gonna start off with sharing the tools.

So, could you tell us about this wonderful tool?

We've got two minutes, so let's just quickly talk about it.

>>Great.

Yep, so we usually, most of our buffers go in by contractors, but we do use volunteers, too, and this is a great shovel to use.

We plant these as bare root seedlings, so you've got a long root that you're just trying to get a skinny hole, just big enough for that root.

So, these are great.

>>Excellent.

And this is a good way for chopping away the brush.

>>Yep, that helps take the sod off the top before we dig the hole.

And then, these are, if you see these on the side of the road, these are tree shelters.

Again, we're planting bare root.

These are great at protecting it from deer rub or voles, and they also serve as a greenhouse to help extend the growing season on either end.

>>Excellent.

>>And help to know where they are when you're doing maintenance.

>>Season extender, love it!

But then, you have this mat, here, and it's under everything else, and I hope people can see it.

But what is this one for?

>>This one, so part of the maintenance for these is that we typically spray around these tree shelters to get rid of some of the competitive vegetation.

But in some cases, that's not a great fit, so we'll use these coconut fiber mats.

>>That would be great, and reduces watering.

>>Yep.

>>And reduces weed.

Well, this is great.

So, you plant hundreds of trees at a time.

>>Yes, since our buffer program started in 2019, we've planted over almost 1,300 acres, and we plant 300 trees per acre.

So, thousands of trees.

>>What part of the James River are you planting most around?

>>Yep, so our program covers the Piedmont, like Middle James and Upper James.

And by far, the most buffers we've installed are in Albemarle County.

>>Well, Amber, I wanna congratulate you, the James River Association.

This is awesome, and what you're doing to preserve and conserve our river.

So, thank you.

>>Great, thank you.