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How does buffer law apply to me?

Subhead
Rock County producers getting on board with conservation practices; many taking initiative, using state and federal funding dollars
Lead Summary
By
Lori Sorenson

Gov. Mark Dayton introduced legislation last year to mandate vegetative buffer strips along waterways in an effort to clean up Minnesota’s notoriously impaired waters.
Ever since those details have emerged, farm groups have pushed back vigorously, especially on the piece of legislation that requires producers to put buffers along private ditches on their land.
Responding to these concerns, Dayton announced last month that he would no longer press to have privately owned ditches affected by the plan, and DNR officials will stop mapping these areas on private ag ground.
With the dust still settling on the legislation’s original details, personnel at the Rock County Land Management Office are sorting out the local impacts of law moving forward.
According to Doug Bos and Arlyn Gehrke the buffer legislation addressed three types of streams — perennial streams (the primary focus of the law), judicial ditches and intermittent streams.
It’s the intermittent streams on private ground that Dayton is backing off on, according to Bos.
“The Soil and Water Conservation District had the discretion to require buffers on streams that were ‘ditched’ (not a grassed waterway),” Bos said.
“If someone worked on a ditch, they would be required to have a 16 ½-foot buffer.”
Essentially, he said, the governor’s announcement doesn’t change much for Rock County landowners, because the SWCD resolution already requires a buffer for some private ditch circumstances, and the other two aspects of the legislation remain in place.
Bos also clarified that Rock County has only two judicial ditches so this area isn’t as affected as other parts of the state in terms of that requirement.
Gehrke, who is taking the lead on buffer requirements, said his office is taking a more generalized approach to improving water quality.
For example, he said recent extreme rainfall events are too much for standard grassy waterways to absorb in fields where no other conservation measures are employed.
In other words, Gehrke said producers are learning that strip-till planting, terraces, basins and other practices all need to be considered in the overall picture of preventing erosion and water pollution.
“We have had about two dozen farmers ask for information about buffers, and the Corn and Soybean Growers Association approached us about presenting at their annual meeting,” said Gehrke, Rock County’s GIS technician.
“They came to us, which I was very grateful for.”
There are state and federal cost-share programs in place to help producers with the expense of implementing conservation practices, and Gehrke and Bos are hoping to see more voluntary participation. Their office can be reached at 507-283-8862, ext. 4.
Gov. Dayton, who has made water quality his mission, said he doesn’t want to compromise the goal of his buffer strip legislation over controversy with only one aspect of the law.
That doesn’t mean he’s happy about conceding on the requirements for private ditches.
“It is private effluent that affects public water,” he said during a Jan. 29 Minnesota Newspaper Association convention in Bloomington.
“I’m just astonished that there’s this fierce opposition to protecting water. … Because it’s private ground, we should allow dumping of whatever they want into public water supplies.”

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