Helping Farmers Combat the Climate Crisis—
One Project at a Time
At Agricultural Restoration Services, we blend applied ecology with cutting-edge engineering to deliver practical, effective solutions. We work closely with farmers to design and implement nature-based solutions such as treatment wetlands and denitrifying bioreactors that improve water quality and reduce nutrient runoff. Our innovative approaches not only support agricultural sustainability but also contribute to healthier ecosystems.
As industry leaders in coastal resiliency and green infrastructure, we specialize in creating systems that protect communities and natural resources from the impacts of climate change. Since the early 2000s, we’ve served as design professionals and technical advisors for a diverse range of clients.
We provide expert design, consulting and project implementation services and collaborate with professional firms to expand capacity and deliver specialized expertise. Our goal is to create sustainable solutions that address the unique challenges of both agricultural landscapes and coastal environments in a changing climate.
Our Specialties
We provide expert design, consulting and full-service construction implementation of nature-based solutions in the following areas:
About ARS
CEO, Drew Koslow, formed ARS to help farmers address excess nitrogen, not utilized by crops. ARS has built 11 denitrifying bioreactors and demonstrated that bioreactors are a cost-effective tool for removing nitrogen from water. ARS is partnering with farmers to implement nitrogen reducing practices and to provide farmers with a predictable income stream in a highly variable occupation.
Our business model is based on the establishment of partnerships with farmers in which we share the costs of design and construction of projects and share the profits generated.
Sample Projects
ARS partners with farmers, NRCS, Universities and NGO’s to implement landscape scale conservation practices. We utilize nature-based solutions to create efficient, effective and functional projects.
Koslow introduced denitrifying bioreactors to Maryland and Virginia and has successfully built 13 of them. These nature-based systems are cost-effective and highly efficient at removing nitrogen from water. What sets them apart is their ability to provide measurable results—by sampling water at both the inlet and outlet, and measuring flow, nitrogen removal rates can be accurately calculated. This method ensures 100% transparency in practice efficiency and nitrogen reduction.
ARS also has experience with design,
permitting and construction of:
- Denitrifying Bioreactors
- Denitrification walls
- Phosphorus-sorbing filters
- In-line water control structures
- Wetlands
- Cascading Wetland Systems
- Bioretention (in field)
- Bio-swales
Farmers We Have Worked With
Hutchison Brothers
Ed Fry, Matt Fry
Bill Mason
Trey Hill
Dick Edwards, Scott Edwards
Bill Collier
Joseph Layton
Projects
War Branch Spring Bioreactor
The War Branch Spring bioreactor is a collaborative effort made possible through the Smith Creek Watershed Partnership and funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction grant. Agricultural Restoration Services (ARS) played a key role alongside project partners, including the Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Friends of the Shenandoah River, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service–Harrisonburg Field Office, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and researchers from Virginia Tech.
ARS’s team led the project from concept to completion—identifying the project site, developing the design, securing all necessary permits, and constructing the bioreactor. Long-term monitoring by USGS identified War Branch Spring in Tenth Legion, VA, as having the highest nitrate levels of any spring sampled within the Smith Creek watershed, making it a priority site for nitrate reduction. The bioreactor is designed to treat spring water, removing excess nitrate and improving downstream water quality.
Bioreactors are a nature-based solution that use organic material to promote microbial processes that remove nitrate from water. This sustainable technology helps reduce nutrient pollution in War Branch, Smith Creek and the North Fork of the Shenandoah River, improving local water quality and contributing to healthier ecosystems downstream.
Monitoring of the War Branch Spring bioreactor is conducted by Dr. Zach Easton and Dr. Kurt Stephenson from Virginia Tech. Data collected from the project is reported to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, allowing the nitrate reductions to be credited toward Virginia’s restoration goals in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Kratzer Farm Bioreactor
The Kratzer Farm bioreactor is a collaborative effort made possible through the Smith Creek Watershed Partnership and funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction grant. Agricultural Restoration Services (ARS) played a key role alongside project partners, including the Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley, Chesapeake
Bay Foundation, Friends of the Shenandoah River, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service–Harrisonburg Field Office, and researchers from Virginia Tech.
ARS’s team led the project from concept to completion—identifying the project site, developing the design, securing all necessary permits, and constructing the bioreactor in December 2024. Located in Linville, VA, the bioreactor is designed to treat approximately 75,000 gallons of spring water per day, effectively removing nitrate pollution.
Bioreactors are a nature-based solution that use organic material to promote microbial processes that remove nitrate from water. This sustainable technology helps reduce nutrient pollution, improving local water quality and contributing to healthier ecosystems downstream.
Monitoring of the Kratzer Farm bioreactor is conducted by Dr. Zach Easton and Dr. Kurt Stephenson from Virginia Tech. Data collected from the project is reported to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, allowing the nitrate reductions to be credited toward Virginia’s restoration goals in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Yancey Bioreactor
By constructing bioreactors near the source of the excess nitrogen before it flows downstream, the watershed is protected from these detrimental effects. Bioreactors work using natural materials and processes and are highly effective at promoting removal of nitrogen from the water.
ARS worked with many partners including USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Harrisonburg Office, Virginia Tech, The Smith Creek Partnership & US Geological Survey to construct this project that reduces nitrogen flows to Smith Creek.
The treated water is discharged into a rock spillway to reoxygenate it before it returns to the stream.
Problem
In areas with elevated nitrogen levels in groundwater, a single spring can discharge tens of thousands of pounds of nitrogen each year.
Solution
By diverting the springs into a bioreactor, thousands of pounds of nitrogen can be reduced in a cost effective manner. Spring bioreactors are highly efficient and operate for approximately fifteen years. A single bioreactor treating between a quarter of a million and one million gallons of spring flow each day can be expected to remove between 1,500 and 12,000 pounds of nitrogen each year.
Implementation
ARS partnered with The town of Harrisonburg, Virginia had a diversion in place to take water from Sieberts Creek into a pond in Purcell Park. We intercepted the pipe and diverted the water into a bioreactor. The water is retained there for 8 hours before flowing to Black’s Run. This project protects the North River. On the Yancey farm, east of Harrisonburg, we constructed a second spring bioreactor in 2020 with a similar design, removing excess nitrogen from the Smith Creek Headwaters Spring, Smith Creek and the Shenandoah River.
Outcomes
We estimate that the Sieberts Creek project alone will remove 1365 lbs of nitrogen per year from Blacks Run, which drains to the North River. Similarly effective nitrogen removal is expected from the Yancey Farm bioreactor treating the Smith Creek Headwaters Spring. Researchers from Virginia Tech have documented the Yancey project removing approximately 1,200 pounds of nitrogen per year.
Massey Farm Cascading Wetland System
Partners: Harbor View Farms, Sassafras River Association, Ridge to Reefs
Funders: Maryland Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund and Maryland 319 funds
Cascading Wetlands Treatment System
These practices supercharge the treatment properties of wetlands and enable them to be utilized in large drainage areas. Our cascading wetland systems maximize the treatment in watersheds that range from 75-100 acres.
2015 aerial image of the project area. The dark shaded drainage was previously maintained as buffer because of the unmanaged runoff draining to it.
Wetland cell one 2022
Wetland cell 3, 2022