Strong Roots Organic Farm

Our ~15 acre property borders ~300,000 acres of state forest, and is bisected by Pine Creek, a Class A trout stream home to turtles, wild brook trout, green frogs and other healthy indicator species. We have a mature hemlock-white pine forest, and some mixed hardwoods. The riparian forest is managed to maintain in-stream coarse woody debris (CWD)—key habitat for turtles and trout. Here, we are defining CWD as greater than 6 inches in diameter and 3 feet in length—though entire logs and fallen trees are particularly important.

CWD traps organic matter and provides habitat for insects and other invertebrates fed upon by smaller fish, trout, and turtles. CWD also creates deeper pools, provides shade and cover from predators, or can be used for basking by turtles. Restoration and maintenance of CWD has been shown to improve the abundance and size of trout. As temperatures and drought continue to worsen from climate change, shading from overstory trees and CWD is increasingly important to maintain cooler water temperatures favored by trout. CWD also improves stream morphology and alters streamflow; this reduces channelization and provides resilience to flooding by slowing down peak water events. Generally, we aim to maintain the equivalent of 200 pieces of CWD/mile of stream.

In addition to CWD, we sample for crayfish and insects to monitor water quality and stream biodiversity. We are actively working to reduce sedimentation from our fields, use organic amendments rather than toxic chemicals, and use slow release fertilizers to decrease potential eutrophication. Sedimentation negatively impacts in-stream habitat and smaller organisms, this can can result in a bottom-up trophic cascade in the food web that decreases food availability. Sedimentation can also suffocate fish and amphibian eggs decreasing reproductive success. Eutrophication and 'death zones' or anoxic conditions found in large bays and deltas can be traced back to fertilizer run-off further upstream, including first and second order streams like Pine Creek. Our farming practices and riparian buffer are designed to minimize these types of impacts.