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Penn State: TreeVitalize Can Help With Riparian Buffers, Workshops Set
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A riparian buffer is a simple project that even private landowners can do to help preserve their property and water quality. As an awareness of environmental stewardship increases many are using buffers on their own properties.
Many workshops, such as “TreeVitalize” in Lewisburg on August 31and Lancaster on September 22, are being held to reach out to those interested in developing sound riparian buffers including tips on design, where they can be used, and native plants that can enhance the ecology of the land.
Riparian buffer zones are vegetated strips of land along stream banks that are designed to reduce pollutant risks to the stream. In light of current efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay, and surrounding watershed sub-basins, riparian buffers zones have become a hot topic. They are relatively easy to establish and inexpensive compared to more invasive methods of stream restoration.
The beauty of riparian buffers is they act as a waterways first line defense against non-point source pollutants for a waterway. The primary target pollutants mediated by riparian buffers include nutrient pollutants, such as nitrates and phosphates, as well as excess sediment runoff.
In addition they contribute ecological diversity, habitat, canopy cover, and aesthetic value. Riparian buffers can be thought of as the infantry in the war against non-point source pollution.
Buffer strips work by creating a barrier between the stream corridor and the land area draining into the stream. Surface runoff coming from developed land, whether agricultural, urban, or residential, carries an increased threat of being tainted by nutrient due to decreased infiltration. The vegetation and water demands created in a riparian buffer cause a reduction in runoff velocity and increased soil water infiltration.
Reducing velocity has a direct correlation to reducing runoff erosion. This is aided by plant and tree root structure holding the soils in place. Soil water Infiltration captures pollutants in soils and plants before they can reach the stream. This is why when designing a riparian buffer it is always better to develop it as wide as possible to facilitate the most infiltration. The recommended riparian buffer width is between 50-150 feet on either side of the stream channel; however, in situations with land space constraints even smaller buffers have proven effective.
TreeVitalize is being put together by the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, an organization with much past success in implementing programs such as this. Coordinator Rebecca Wertime has worked hard assembling the event and is excited to see the benefits that will come from it.
Wertime said, “Our goal has been to coordinate projects in the public eye to attract the community’s attention and get them involved. The success of the project is not only how receptive the public has been, but the overwhelming support we are beginning to receive from local government and municipalities.”
TreeVitalize workshops will be held in Lancaster September 22
More information, visit the TreeVitalize website or the PA TreeVitalize Streams webpage.
(Written By: Justin Kauffman, Conewago Creek Conservation Initiative Intern, and reprinted from Penn State Cooperative Extension Watershed Winds newsletter.)
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8/1/2011 |
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