2023 Virginia Beach Elections: Questions for candidates for Soil & Water Conservation District Director

Ed. — The following are responses to questions posed by The Independent News to candidates in the election for two Virginia Beach seats on the Virginia Dare Soil & Water Conservation District Board. Answers to our questions in this series generally are not edited, aside from obvious punctuation issues, spacing and formatting, or for clarity. Remaining copies of the Sunday, Sept. 24, print edition containing the complete guide may still be available on some of our secondary racks through Sunday, Oct. 22. 

• Please reach John Doucette, the editor, with any questions or concerns via email.

LESLIE A. JONES

• Residence: Charlestown Lakes
• Age: 68
• Occupation: Retired Health Tech, Pharmacy Tech and Behavioral Tech, Southeastern Virginia Training Center for the Developmentally Disabled for 33 years
• Military Service/Education: Princess Anne High School graduate, pharmacy technician certification
• Endorsements: Mayor Bobby Dyer, former City Councilmember John Moss and state Sen. Bill DeSteph
• Phone: (757) 217-7825
• Email: lesliejones4conservation@cox.net
• Social Media: @lj4conservationvadare on Facebook

What are your specific qualifications for this office? I have been on the board for eight years and have experienced the benefits of providing needed financial assistance to the local farm families in our community. I currently have the honor of chairing the board meetings, for more than a year. The board unanimously voted for me to continue in this capacity. 

I, with consent of the voters of Virginia Beach, would like to continue to serve on the Virginia Dare Soil and Water Conservation Board, in this voluntary capacity, for another term. I have attended more than eighty percent of the scheduled meetings.

Please explain your specific experience in conservation practices, water or soil science, and agriculture. I have attended seminars and instructional meetings on best practices on behalf of the board, although, much of them via zoom, due to the two years of the pandemic.

I review, yearly, as part of the Education Committee, scholarship submissions for those potential agriculture students of higher education. They will be pursuing degrees in agricultural careers that will affect our future. Those reviews are brought before the board, who then approve those scholarships. That is one of the most rewarding parts of my overall capacity on the board.

How will you work to support best practices that help prevent soil erosion and lessen the toll of flooding? By supervising the support staff work by making decisions, as a member of the board, the practices they implement make a great difference in preserving our soil and water on agricultural land here in Virginia Beach. I have worked well with the office and field staff on our board.

Please explain your view of the educational aspect of the district’s work, including outreach to schools? I have assisted our specialists in our local Farm Days activities and sharing reading in the classrooms to children to spur their potential interest in agriculture and conservation of our natural resources, in both Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.

WILLIAM W. “BILL” FLEMING

• Residence: Virginia Beach
• Age: 75
• Occupation: Semi-retired, President of Terras LLC
• Military Service/Education: Bachelor degree in physics, North Carolina State University; Ph.D. in physics, North Carolina State University; U. S. Army Signal Corps, commissioned in 1973, six years active reserve; Soil Food Web Foundation Courses in microbiology, composting, compost teas and extracts, and microscopy; Decision Analysis, Design for Manufacturability, Psychology of Peak Performance, Stanford University; Process Analysis, University of Virginia; Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership, University of Virginia; Quality Assurance Auditor/Lead Auditor, Lloyds Institute; Best Composting Practices, USDA/University of Maryland and Virginia Tech; Nutrient Management, VA Dept. of Conservation and Recreation; Master Cattleman Certification, Virginia Tech; numerous DCR courses generally directed at SWCD staff
• Phone: (757) 450-4084
• Website: strongvirginia.us
• Email: bill.fleming@strongvirginia.us
• Social Media: @wwfleming and @billflemingva on Facebook  

What are your specific qualifications for this office? I took classes with the Soil Food Web on soils and soil biology in 2015 and retook them recently. Consequently, I understand the importance of healthy soils to agriculture, clean water, and climate change. When European settlers landed in Jamestown, Virginia, soil was much higher in organic matter. There is typically only about 2% or less organic matter in much of Virginia soil now due to poor farming practices brought over from Europe and modern industrial farming practices. I am very knowledgeable about practices that will improve soil organic matter and soil biology in Virginia lands, which will improve soil health, improve water quality, and improve the Chesapeake Bay. I want to get the DCR to implement composting best management practices and get funding to increase soil organic matter in Virginia farmland. I’m also a member of the Public Policy Committee of the Virginia Association for Biological Farming (VABF).

Please explain your specific experience in conservation practices, water or soil science, and agriculture. The government entity that provides the most support for soil and water conservation practices is the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) through the 47 Soil and Water Conservation Districts in the Commonwealth. There are a large number of best management practices (BMPs) that have been established and frequently updated that are designed to help improve Virginia soils and waters, and SWCDs provides financial support to help farmers implement these practices. However, there are some additional BMPs that can help improve soil health by increasing organic matter and soil biology on our farmlands. There are also a set of Virginia Conservation Assistance Program (VCAP) best management practices to help homeowners and urban businesses lower urban negative impacts. The Soil and Water Conservation Districts in Virginia can help homeowners implement these BMPs as well. 

How will you work to support best practices that help prevent soil erosion and lessen the toll of flooding? One thing that I did as an individual is to write to most of Virginia’s members in the House of Representatives to ask that a line item of $10 Million be added to the upcoming Farm Bill to fund the creation and application of aerobic thermally processed compost to Virginia farmlands. This funding would be provided to the DCR and the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts to help improve soil organic matter and the corresponding soil biology to Virginia farmlands. Increased soil organic matter will increase crop yields, improve water retention, filter chemicals from Virginia rivers and the Chesapeake Bay, and restore soil health. Letters were sent to Jen Kiggans (R-CD2), Rob Wittman (R-CD1), Ben Cline (R-CD6), Abigail Spanberger (D-CD7), Bobby Scott (D-CD3), Bob Good (R-CD5), Don Beyer (CD8). Hopefully, these Congressional representatives can cooperate and support this request for the benefit of Virginia farmers.

Please explain your view of the educational aspect of the district’s work, including outreach to schools? So far, I have been disappointed to learn that the 47 SWCDs appear to not have good communication with all farmers in Virginia. Some of this appears to be due to a gap that exists with the USDA. I would like to try to push the SWCDs to establish good communications with all small, medium, and large farm owners in Virginia. This would include males, females, all ethnic groups, and all ages.

The Soil and Water Conservation Districts have reading programs for young children in elementary schools, and either Envirothon or Meaningful Watershed Education Experience (MWEE) programs for older students. It would be good to improve the relationship between SWCD education for environmental science classes in high schools since soil health and water quality are so important to our futures.

© 2023 Pungo Publishing Co., LLC