John Elkin Jr. of Hunters LLC and Bigfoot LLC was recently presented the Tidewater Soil and Water Conservation District’s 2021 Forestry Best Management Practice Award.
Elkin has managed farm and forest land in Gloucester County since 2005, and nearly a quarter of his land serves to protect water quality as streamside management zones, according to a release from the TSWCD.
Elkin approached both of his land purchases from a stewardship perspective at the onset. He has carried out some of the work on his own, such as pre-commercial thinning with a brush-saw, tractor spraying areas for site preparation and weed control, and burning for site preparation. He maintains the hunting roads on both properties to prevent erosion through proper grading techniques and by establishing wildflower mixes on loose soil. Elkin has taken time to attend woodland owner education events, including a longleaf pine program and he became a Virginia Certified Prescribed Burn Manager.
By working with the Virginia...