SustainFloyd assists the community of Floyd County, Virginia in developing strategies

and policies protecting its essential natural, cultural and economic resources.

SustainFloyd was created to provide vision and leadership assisting the future growth of
the Floyd community, a sustainable growth and, therefore, one better able to better
integrate into the modern global economy. SustainFloyd will serve as a resource for local
government, non-profits, farmers, entrepreneurs and citizens of Floyd by providing
information and education relating to sustainability and in so doing become a vehicle for
positive change. SustainFloyd will not only effect change for the Floyd Community but
also become a model for rural communities throughout Southwest Virginia and beyond.

SustainFloyd board, advisors, staff and volunteers encourage new strategies addressing
current and future challenges. Specifically, SustainFloyd’s efforts move the community
toward the following:

• greater conservation and protection of its water, air, forests and farmland;
• development and use of renewable energy sources, conservation of non-
renewable ones and assessing and reducing our collective carbon footprint;
• initiatives reducing Floyd’s waste stream and encouraging responsible and
efficient waste disposal;
• developing more sustainable agricultural practices including the promotion of
a local food supply, and
• protection of Floyd’s cultural identity and overall quality of life.

With community input and participation, SustainFloyd will identify specific needs and
opportunities for the Floyd community in line with our mission. Once identified, the
organization will seek to disseminate this information in the following general ways:
• convene community conversations around those needs and opportunities;
• work with community leaders and agencies;
• host workshops, seminars and events;
• inform and invite the citizens of Floyd County to embrace and prioritize those
needs and opportunities;
• seek grants and private funding that will fund our educational activities and
allow strategic planning in relation to those needs and possibilities;
• help connect donors to the projects that will allow their gifts to make
meaningful contribution toward fulfillment of those needs and possibilities;
• act as a distribution point for people and entities to share information and
volunteer their time toward projects that address those needs and possibilities.

Through research, education and networking, SustainFloyd will encourage and assist
local entrepreneurship that underpins a sustainable locally-based economy. SustainFloyd
will work to become an advocate for the community to promote long term solutions to
community challenges for the benefit of current residents and future generations.

We have targeted the following sectors of activity to be conducted in and around Floyd
County, Virginia:

Local sustainable agriculture:

Energy education and outreach:
Waste Management via recycling:
Watershed Protection:
Land Use Education:

Local sustainable agriculture:

Research, education and outreach in support of local agriculture. SustainFloyd will work
to educate farmers on raising row crops, dairy and meat focusing on new strategies in
sustainable farming aimed at supplying the local and regional market.

First, we seek to tap into our deep agricultural heritage. This would be accomplished by
gathering, developing and documenting local wisdom through outreach to local farmers
and land owners with a goal of creating a more local food system.

Synthesizing this wisdom with proven sustainable farming practiced successfully in other
locales, developing dissemination systems and creating markets form the next great
challenges. This holistic approach is an area of education and outreach currently under-
served by other institutions in our region.

Measures shall include:

• establish farm days and exhibitions on how to sustainably grow row crops
efficiently and for profit, advising on connections to markets including local
school and universities;
• bring in experts on local food systems and cropping systems;
• education on grant writing for local dairy including the formation of a local dairy
cooperative should that be found to create an advantage;
• educate the county officials on the potential of further developing agriculture as a
viable income and tax producing sector;
• educate the public on the many positive aspects of a Farm to School program and
work with the school system in developing a program;
• promote and manage the newly constructed Floyd Community Market as a
demonstration of a successful community initiative;
• educate the public on buying local and keeping food dollars in the community and
the multiplier effect of those purchases;
• educate cattle operations on the advantages of grass fed beef and how to
incorporate such a system into their own operations and increase their bottom line
while helping to identify markets for the product.

These activities would all serve to educate the farming community and the general public
about the importance of the issue of local food production and sustainable farming
practices in order to preserve and conserve our natural resources and rural way of life and
create systems that will better serve future generations in Floyd Co. This would preserve
the cultural heritage of the county and also preserve the natural resources and open space
that is under development pressure.

Energy education and outreach:

Research, education and outreach to reduce our emissions. SustainFloyd will work to
identify, assess and inventory the energy consumption of individuals, businesses and
municipalities and conduct workshops, seminars, and interactive demonstrations that
would promote energy conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy, green building,
and a broad sustainability approach. We will educate the community about the
interaction and connectivity between energy use, agriculture, health, land use, water, and
transportation. In general, educate the greater community in effective ways to reduce our
carbon footprint.

Promoting sustainability by emphasizing the values of energy conservation, energy

efficiency, renewable energy, green building, and living a more sustainable lifestyle is an
integral and important part of our service to the community

Waste Management via recycling:

Research and education as a key to less waste. Like many rural counties, Floyd does not
have an approved landfill. All waste including recyclables are shipped at great expense
to a location hundreds of miles away. For example, the County of Floyd has limited
recycling of brown or green glass and most plastics. SustainFloyd will work to promote
a more sustainable approach to waste management.

Specific future activities to include:

• raising awareness within the community about the economic and environmental
costs of the current waste management system:
• identify and prioritize specific areas in the current system that could be improved
and generate community resolve supporting positive change;
• researching and disseminating the feasibility of local recycling of green and
brown glass into marketable products;
• work closely with local government to help develop and promote policies leading
to greater effectiveness in disposing of the community’s waste stream.

Watershed Protection:
Education on the functioning and protection of county watersheds. The educational
activities will focus on best management practices for both forestry and agriculture to
protect both the quality and quantity of water flow.
Timber stand improvement, maintenance of wildlife habitat, selective harvesting,
control over invasive species, and construction of harvest roads to minimize soil erosion
will be topics of focus for forestry management.
Protection of riparian zones, watering systems that minimize use and
contamination for cattle and irrigation, buffering around fields to reduce nutrient flow
into streams, use of cover crops, biological control of pests, and minimal tillage will be
topics of focus for the practice of agriculture. Site selection criteria for forestry and
agriculture activities will also be presented.

From a broader perspective, viewing watersheds holistically, landowners will be given

information about how collaborative efforts regarding the placement of cultivated fields,
pasture, woodlots, and farm buildings can contribute to a cleaner and more stable
watershed.

Finally, assisting people in knowing the location and functioning of aquifers and springs,
better decisions can be reached concerning the availability of water and the selection of
sites for housing and other development activities.

The activity promotes better understanding of the role of land management in the
protection of water resources. Further, by improved awareness of water availability,
better decisions can be reached on locating future developments.

Land Use Education:

Research, education and outreach in support of the relevant applications for Floyd
County of land use planning. SustainFloyd would work to educate residents and local
officials on conservation and protection of resources in the following areas:

• stormwater reduction via the minimization of impervious areas, and impacts on

natural areas:
• routing of runoff to designated appropriate areas to slow and recapture water to
improve infiltration reuse or recharge of ground water resources.
• use of multiple small-scale controls to reproduce natural functions such as:
infiltration, detention, retention, evaporation and recharge while encouraging
aesthetically attractive areas, which may enhance living areas.
• pollution prevention via erosion and sediment controls and the prevention of soil
loss by erosion, and soil disturbance during construction or site preparations by
various practices;
• enhancing the storage, reuse, recharge or return of rainwater to the aquifer and
streams by low impact means;
• stream bank education, education on the natural progression of plant materials and
the importance of maintaining 3-dimensional cover in the area of watercourses
and factors leading to the prediction of the consequences of varying practices on
watercourse evolution;
• discussions with and presentations to elected and appointed officials and County
employees regarding the evolution of landforms under natural and manmade
pressures. Research and development of alternative management practices to
improve the resiliency of natural and impacted water systems;
• develop sources of funding via grant writing, bid and donation for the promotion
of practices appropriate to the location;
• educate county officials on the potential of further developing local ordinances or
 inducements recognizing good management practices;
• educating the public on the many positive aspects of land use management.

These activities would focus on new strategies of land usage aimed at reducing the
adverse impacts of development and increasing appreciation of environmentally balanced
systems able to endure changes in the development of housing, roads, parking and other
impacts.

A goal of SustainFloyd is to decrease the pressure to convert prime farmland to

residential developments and the organization will seek to assist the County in
developing policies conserving prime land while allowing development of housing on
relatively lower value land. The issue of conserving agricultural lands in the face of
development remains a conflict within the County population, and there is a need for the
facilitation of discussions on this topic.