Headwaters Soil & Water Conservation District

For 35 years, the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts has sponsored a week long summer conservation camp for Virginia high school students (currently enrolled in grades 9-12) on the campus of Virginia Tech. The program brings together about 70 interested students for a week of learning about Virginia’s natural resources from conservation professionals and faculty from Virginia Tech. Most of the instruction is hands-on and outdoors.

This year's camp runs July 8-14th. The fee for camp, $550.00 will cover the students meals, lodging, activities and transportation while at camp.  Students are responsible for obtaining their own means of transportation to and from Virginia Tech for the beginning and end of camp.  

  Below you will find  the Camp Highlights and  Application. If you are interested in attending YCC, please print off and fill out the application and return to Headwaters SWCD (70 Dick Huff Lane Verona, VA 24482) by April 20, 2012. Dependent upon the number of applications the District receives, partial scholarships may be available.

The Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts is proud to annouce thart Dominion Resources will be the Virginia Envirothon sponsor for the 2012 competition year.

Please visit to see what the District has been able to accomplish during the past fiscal year of 7/1/10 - 6/30/11.

If you have received or will receive a Virginia Agricultural/BMP tax credit between July 1, 2006 and April 15, 2012, there is important tax credit information that may affect you. If you have not used your Virginia Ag/BMP tax credit towards your Virginia State income tax you now have the option to receive a refund for the tax credit amount. Please note that this applies only to Virginia Ag/BMP tax credits. The Virginia Ag/BMP tax credit will no longer carryover to the next tax year.  Therefore, the tax credit must be used against your Virginia State income tax, or you must request a refund. If neither action is taken, you will forfeit your tax credit. Headwaters Soil and Water Conservation District cannot give tax advice. For more information or to request a refund form please consult your tax professional or call the Virginia Department of Taxation at (804) 786-2992 and mention the Ag/BMP tax credit or visit them on the web at http://www.tax.virginia.gov.

Recent flooding in the Valley and nationwide have many localities examining what can be done to help stem the flow of water.

One tool in use in the Valley is flood control dams.

In Augusta County, there are 16 flood control dams in place to help prevent flooding.

Those dams get inspected annually to make sure they are up to code.

John Kaylor, with the Headwaters Soil and Water Conservation District, says, "In addition, we inspect them after major storm events. We're up here to look at them for maintenance items in between that, so they get a lot of inspections."

Currently seven of the 16 dams in Augusta County are rated as conditional dams, which means they may need repairs.

"Those are dams that we have been notified that, because of construction downstream and increased regulation, that they are considered conditional dams," explains Kaylor.

Kaylor stresses the conditional dams are safe and he says proactive efforts by elected officials in Augusta County and Waynesboro mean that three formerly conditional dams have already been rehabbed.

"There are approximately seven more structures that are listed as conditional, probably another 12 million to upgrade those seven dams," says Kaylor.

However, securing the money to rehab the dams may be caught up in the Washington, D.C. budget battle.

"Unfortunately, now the actual program that the federal government has to assist localities, there's discussion of actually eliminating the program," comments Kaylor.

One of the seven conditional dams in Augusta County has already had the design work completed, and is now awaiting funding to complete the work.

Kaylor says, if the funding is cut in the federal program, it could put a tremendous strain on localities like Waynesboro and Augusta County to come up with the money to upgrade the dams on their own.

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