ELECTION 2023: Heard of the Henricopolis Soil and Water Conservation District Board? Here’s why 4 candidates want to serve on it

At the very bottom of the Nov 7. election ballot is a list of four candidates running for three available director positions on the Henricopolis Soil and Water Conservation District board. One hopeful admitted that the board’s lengthy name sounds a little ridiculous, like it’s straight out of the Wizard of Oz, while another said it felt more like a Batman movie.

“Like they’re talking about Gotham city or something,” said Brittany Rose, a Democrat who’s called Henrico home for 23 years. Becky Lakin, also a Democrat, disagreed and asked:

“Does Henricopolis not sound like it’s Emerald City?”

While both candidates joked about the name, they said they want to serve on the board to strengthen its mission. The Henricopolis Soil and Water board has a broad mandate that includes educating the community about best agricultural and sustainability practices and working with farmers and homeowners on a range of soil and water programs. The little-known board has a variety of initiatives, including free soil tests, cost share opportunities, soil erosion treatment, Henrico Public School programs, and help with creating rain gardens, which increase rain runoff re-absorption by the soil.

Henricopolis is one of 47 soil and water districts in Virginia. It was created following a long tradition of soil and water districts across the country, which date back to the 1930s Dust Bowl disaster when a long drought dried up soil and eventually led to massive dust storms. Because nearly three-fourths of the continental United States are privately owned, Congress realized that only active, voluntary support from landowners would guarantee the success of conservation work on private land, so they created the first soil and water districts.

The Henricopolis board is a five-member director body, with three elected officials and two others appointed by the elected officials. One of the appointed representatives must be a member of the Virginia Cooperative Extension, a partnership between Virginia’s two land grant universities that assists farmers, empowers youth, and guide responsible resource management. All board members are unpaid.

Henricopolis District Manager Charles Lively said that many Henrico residents, especially those in the western part of the county, largely are unaware of the agriculture that exists within county lines.

“Believe it or not, Henrico County does have agriculture,” Lively said.

In the 2022-2023 season, Henricopolis protected 727.08 acres of land, assisted 72 farms with $460,847 of best management cost share funding and ran educational programs with more than 4,000 Henrico County Public Schools students.

The four candidates up for three elected director positions all agree that the board deserves more attention. Claiborne Yarbrough (a Democrat), and Clover Dosier (an independent) both said the varied agricultural landscape of Henrico County makes it difficult for the voters who live in the western part of the county to understand the agricultural needs of those who live farther east.

“In the western part of the state, the Soil and Water board kind of is a bigger deal because it's very much on everybody's mind,” Yarbrough said. “But at the end of the day, everybody needs to care. It's all tied to our health and our kids’ health and how we treat our local resources.”

Rose thinks there should be more public awareness surrounding the sustainability practices Henricopolis provides. The best way to increase Henricopolis’ influence, she said, is to make people care about the environmental issues right in front of them.

“It’s hard to get someone to care about environmental problems if they don’t have appreciation and love for their backyard and where they live,” Rose said. “Let’s not just focus on these big, global issues. Let’s look outside your backdoor. Let’s look at what we could be doing right where you live.”

What’s most impressive to Dosier about Henricopolis, though, is the horizontal access it provides constituents to their elected representatives.

“The soil and water conservation district can work independently to secure lands for conservation easement and to find out of the box solutions for conservation in ways that I think local governments sometimes cannot,” Dosier said. “We always talk about how local government matters, and what matters most about it is its directness and its immediacy. There's nothing closer to your community than the Soil and Water Conservation District. Our land, our water, our soil, this affects everybody.”

Many of the board’s undertakings are completed through the Virginia Conservation Assistance Program. VCAP provides financial incentives and technical and educational assistance to property owners installing eligible best management practices in Virginia’s soil and water conservation districts. Rainwater harvesting, conservation landscaping and green roofing are just some of the practices VCAP supports.

Rose is also an advocate for getting more people involved on the Henricopolis board. In addition to its five-member director team, the board has a ranging number of associate directors. Anyone can apply to be an associate and associates frequently serve on at least one of the board’s nine committees.

“I would love to see people from all five magisterial districts represented,” Rose said. “I think we need producers; we need farmers; we need people who live in more suburban areas…because the issues that are soil and water related where I live in the Three Chopt District are maybe very distinct from the soil and water issues that are being faced in Varina.”

Lively said even though some members run on party tickets, the board has always put conservation before party affiliations. When asked about what makes a good director, he said what matters most is having an ear for what Henrico needs.

“There's really no stereotype,” Lively said. “We’ve had successful directors from all political parties, from all walks of life, all backgrounds …and they’ve all been able to come together and agree on moving forward with soil and water conservation in the county.”

Yarbrough, Rose and Lakin are all being supported by the Henrico Democrats.

The candidates

Becky Lakin

Becky Lakin’s home sits atop a hill out in Eastern Henrico, close enough to the James River that you can hear the river’s current through the thick trees lining the property. Three formerly wild mustangs graze through a circular track, and a compost bin – painted pink at the request of Lakin’s daughter – sits some feet away from a garden full of plants native to Virginia. As you turn into the driveway, you’re greeted by a large campaign sign. It’s made of paper, of course, because plastic is detrimental to the environment.

“One of the things you’ll come to know about me is that I am an authentic person,” Lakin said. “I am endeavoring toward living what I teach, living what I say and living what I share.”

Lakin runs The Tomorrow Company, a training program for leaders and entrepreneurs that fosters organizational authenticity through human and horse workshops. She also founded The Giving Wall, a nonprofit that matches urgent financial needs in Richmond with local sponsors who can support them. They’ve helped close to 2,000 people since their start five years ago, Lakin said.

“One of the questions that guides my life is what’s mine to do that will do the most good,” Lakin said. “If you ask that question and you’re open to the answers no matter where they are, then life takes not a linear path, but moves you into different places. You move a little more like water around rocks.”

Brittany Rose

Brittany Rose is a self-proclaimed public policy nerd.

In 1999, after receiving a master’s degree in public policy from William & Mary, Rose moved to Richmond region. She’s called Henrico County her home for the last 23 years.

The Henricopolis Soil and Water board doesn’t create policy, Rose said, but it does provide an opportunity to work with other soil and water districts in the region to look at opportunities for legislative improvement.

“Soil and water districts are in a position to really understand how the policies and regulations that are in place are actually impacting practices on the ground,” she said.

Since the beginning of this year, Rose has been working with the James River Watershed Association, which conducts invasive removals and shoreline restoration along the James. Rose went through the organization’s river rat training program, and now patrols a section of the Chickahominy river to document pollution sources and their effects.

Claiborne Yarbrough

Claiborne Yarbrough is the only Henricopolis incumbent running for re-election. She says one primary reason she’s running is to ensure the transition to a new team of directors goes as smoothly as possible.

“Honestly, I’m doing it to provide some continuity,” Yarbrough said. “I think it’s very hard on staff and on some of our programs if there’s not somebody that comes to it with a little bit of historical perspective.”

Yarbrough grew up in Richmond and has lived in Henrico for almost 10 years. Her daughters attended Tuckahoe Middle and Freeman High School.

She first joined the board in 2020 and currently serves as treasurer. Since her term began, the board has reached about 80% of fourth-graders in HCPS, worked with the Virginia Department of Forestry to build an outdoor high school classroom and helped Cornerstone Farms create a farm-to-school urban agriculture program at Fairfield Middle School, she said.

Clover Dosier

Clover Dosier is running to represent farmers.

“If I could sum up my campaign, that would be it. Clover Dosier – A farmer’s voice.”

Dosier has lived in the Richmond region since 2007, and in Varina for the past four years. They’ve worked with food systems, grown large gardens, helped people set up their own food and herb growing systems, advised livestock operations, and worked with multiple conservation and food organizations in the area, they said.

Dosier said it’s important to have a farmer’s voice on the board to ensure the needs of farmers are consistently met. Plus, the board can help farmers with best practice methods that save farmers money and protect the environment.

“A lot of the large farms in the area can have a big impact if they change their practices,” Dosier said.

The importance of education

All the candidates rank education, particularly childhood education, as a high-target item for Henricopolis.

In 2011, Rose became a Virginia master naturalist, granting her membership to the volunteer program that manages natural resources and public lands. She said she recently reengaged with the chapter and has been doing environmental education along the river -- her favorite thing to do.

“Something that really lights me up is environmental education with kids,” Rose said. “I love being outdoors, I love learning about the natural world. And I want to help bring that to kids for them to have that sense of wonder and appreciation and awe.”

Yarbrough agreed. In 2006, when her daughter was in kindergarten, she started the Green Team, an afterschool club that explored nature on school grounds and brought in experts to talk to kids about recycling, pollution, and conservation. By 2011, more than a third of the school participated in the program.

Yarbrough also discussed the importance of children finding value in sustainability practices.

“If you can get them to make the connection early on that they really are tied to the water that surrounds them – you’re not just driving over a bridge, you’re driving over a stream. And that stream goes into a creek, and that creek goes into a river,” Yarbrough said. “That can be really powerful as well.”

After graduating from the J. Sargeant Reynolds sustainable agriculture program, Dosier began working at Fairfield Middle School with the Cornerstone Farm project, which was funded by the Henricopolis board. The project teaches students about sustainable food production and promotes education on food insecurity and stormwater runoff.

Lakin thinks the work Henricopolis has done within the Henrico public school system has been fantastic but that even more could be done to further the teaching of environmental practices in public schools. She recalled a time when her daughter, a Richmond public school student, was instructed to work on a craft project that went against her blossoming environmental values.

“The other day she had to build a giraffe with like 300 straws – and I was like ‘Oh no! We’ve gone too far,” Lakin said.

Election day is on Nov 7, but early voting began Sept 22. Find your polling place here.