After buying the farm, by the mid-1970s, Dobson had assembled his own herd of beef cattle. He noticed that the water in the stream that crossed his property was declining in quality and quantity. The banks had eroded and the elm trees nearby had died of Dutch elm disease. He planted a tree buffer along the stream and added solar-powered pumping systems. Some of the trees are now 30 or 40 feet tall. The water is cleaner, which leads to healthier, happier cattle and more wildlife. “Now the banks are more like a sponge,” he says. “If there’s a heavy rain, it goes into the ground, The water is cleansed of nutrients and slowly released.
