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Conservation practice standards are reviewed periodically and updated if needed. To obtain 

the current version of this standard, contact your Natural Resources Conservation Service 

State Office or visit the Field Office Technical Guide.

NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE

CONSERVATION PRACTICE STANDARD

HEDGEROW PLANTING

(Ft.)

CODE 422

DEFINITION

Establishment of dense vegetation in a linear 

design to achieve a natural resource 

conservation purpose.

PURPOSE

Providing at least one of the following 

conservation functions:

• Habitat, including food, cover, and 

corridors for terrestrial wildlife.

• To enhance pollen, nectar, and nesting 

habitat for pollinators.

• Food, cover, and shade for aquatic 

organisms that live in adjacent streams or 

watercourses.

• To provide substrate for predaceous and 

beneficial invertebrates as a component of 

integrated pest management.

• To intercept airborne particulate matter. 

• To reduce chemical drift and odor 

movement.

• Screens and barriers to noise and dust

• To increase carbon storage in biomass 

and soils.

• Living fences

• Boundary delineation and contour 

guidelines

CONDITIONS WHERE PRACTICE APPLIES:

This practice applies wherever it will 

accomplish at least one of the purposes stated 

above.

CRITERIA

General Criteria Applicable to All Purposes

Hedgerows shall be established using woody 

plants or perennial bunch grasses producing 

erect stems attaining average heights of at 

least 3 feet persisting over winter.

Plants selected must be suited and adapted to 

soil and site conditions, climate, and 

conservation purpose.

No plant listed by the state as a noxious weed 

shall be established in a hedgerow.

Species shall be selected that do not host 

pests or diseases that could pose a risk to 

nearby crops.

The practice shall be protected from livestock 

grazing and trampling to the extent necessary 

to ensure that it will perform the intended 

purpose(s).

Competing vegetation shall be controlled until 

the hedgerow becomes established. Control 

shall continue beyond the establishment 

period, if necessary.

All planned work shall comply with federal, 

state and local laws and regulations.

No minimum width beyond a single row is 

required except where wildlife food and cover 

is an objective.

Additional Criteria for Wildlife Food, Cover 

and Corridors

Establish at least two compatible species of 

native vegetation. Multiple species increase 

food and habitat diversity while reducing pest 

and disease risk.

Selected plants shall provide cover and/or food 

to support the landowner’s wildlife objectives.

Minimum hedgerow width, at maturity, shall be 

15 feet. This may necessitate the 
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establishment of more than one row of plants.

Additional Criteria for Pollinator Habitat

Hedgerow plants must provide abundant 

pollen and nectar resources.

Multiple species with different blooming 

periods (early spring through late summer) 

shall be included in the planting. The actual 

number of species is dependent upon the 

availability of adjacent flowering plants. Plants 

that bloom during the same period as adjacent 

insect-pollinated crops can be excluded.

Pollinator hedgerows will be protected from 

pesticides that may harm pollinators. If pest 

control is required, only non-blooming plants 

will be treated, and/or only pesticides non-toxic 

to pollinators shall be used.

Additional Criteria for Living Fences

Selected plants shall attain a size and density

adequate to create a barrier to contain 

livestock or humans, as needed.

If the purpose is to contain livestock, selected 

plants shall not be poisonous or hazardous to 

the animals.

Additional Criteria for Boundary 

Delineation

Hedgerows shall be aligned along boundaries 

of fields, or forestlands to differentiate land 

management units.

Additional Criteria for Contour Guidelines

Hedgerows shall be aligned so they provide 

permanent contour markers supporting 

implementation of Contour Farming (330) or 

Stripcropping (585). Refer to those 

conservation practice standards for alignment 

criteria.

Additional Criteria for Screens and Noise 

Barriers

Screening hedgerows provide privacy, hide 

unsightly areas from view or reduce noise.

Hedgerows shall be located where they most 

completely obstruct a line of sight or offensive 

sound.

Selected plants shall attain a height and 

fullness sufficient to break the line of sight or 

baffle sound.

Additional Criteria for Improvement of 

Landscape Appearance

The hedgerow design shall meet the aesthetic 

objectives of the landowner.

Plants shall be selected based upon the 

landowner’s preferences for color, texture and 

growth habit.

Additional Criteria for Reducing Particulate 

Matter Movement

The hedgerow will be oriented as close to 

perpendicular to the prevailing wind direction 

as possible.

Hedgerow density on the upwind side shall be 

at least 50% at maturity.

Hedgerow density adjacent to the particulate 

source shall be at least 65% at maturity. 

Additional Criteria to Reduce Odor 

Movement and/or Chemical Drift

Orientation of the hedgerow shall be as close 

to perpendicular to the prevailing wind 

direction during the period of concern as 

possible, and between the source of the odor 

or chemical drift and the sensitive areas. 

Hedgerows shall be located upwind of the odor 

producing area and the chemical application 

area. 

Tree and shrub species used shall have foliar 

and structural characteristics that optimize 

interception, adsorption and absorption of 

airborne chemicals or odors. Plant species 

shall be selected that are tolerant of 

anticipated chemical use.

CONSIDERATIONS

General

Planting a hedgerow larger than the required 

length and minimum width will increase the 

amount of carbon stored in the soil and 

biomass. Larger and more diverse hedgerows 

will generally enhance most other resource 

values.

Hedgerows should be planned in combination 

with other practices to develop holistic

conservation systems that enhance landscape 

aesthetics, reduce soil erosion, improve 

sediment trapping, improve water quality and 

provide wildlife habitat.

Hedgerows following land contours create 

meandering lines on the landscape, produce a 
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natural appearance and increase the 

availability of “edge” wildlife habitats.

Hedgerows containing a mixture of native 

shrubs and small trees provide greatest 

environmental benefits.

Use of bareroot and containerized seedlings 

will accelerate hedgerow development.

Consider the amount of shading a hedgerow 

will provide at maturity. Shading may impact 

growth of adjacent plants, microclimate and 

aesthetics. 

Limiting renovation events to one-third of a 

hedgerow’s length or width will prevent sudden 

elimination of the practice’s wildlife habitat 

function.

Periodic root pruning can reduce nutrient and 

water robbing from adjacent cropland.

Consider avoiding the use of plants that 

spread by root suckers as hedgerow may 

expand beyond the desired treatment area.

Wildlife Food, Cover and Corridors

Hedgerows can provide travel lanes, or 

corridors that allow wildlife to move safely 

across a landscape.

Generally, wider corridors accommodate more 

wildlife use.

Linking fragmented habitats may increase 

wildlife use of an area.

In grassland ecosystems, hedgerows may 

adversely affect area-sensitive nesting birds by 

fragmenting habitat patches and increasing the 

risk of predation.

Hedgerows can complement the availability of 

naturally occurring wildlife foods.

Hedgerows can provide wildlife with cover for 

feeding, loafing, nesting and caring for young.

Dense or thorny shrub thickets provide 

songbirds with important nesting sites and a 

refuge to escape predators.

Establishment of evergreen plants provides 

year-round concealment and thermal cover for 

wildlife.

Establishment of herbaceous vegetation along 

the edges of a hedgerow can further enhance 

the habitat functions of a hedgerow.

Installation of artificial nest boxes with predator 

guards can encourage cavity-nesting birds and 

small mammals to utilize a hedgerow.

Living Fences

Thorny shrubs and trees can improve a living 

fence’s barrier effect.

Screens and Noise Barriers

From eye-level, hedgerows reduce the line-ofsight across open areas, concealing objects 

behind them from view. 

Consider the design from viewpoints on both 

sides of the screen.

Locate noise barriers as close to the source of 

noise as possible.

Combination of shrubs and/or trees can create 

more effective screens than single species 

plantings.

Evergreens provide foliage that can maintain a 

screen’s year-round effectiveness.

Improving Landscape Appearance

Consider plants’ seasonal display of colors on 

bark, twigs, foliage, flowers and fruit.

Consider plants’ growth habits (outline, height 

and width).

Water Quality and Quantity

Water quality benefits may arise from:

• Arresting sediment movement and 

trapping sediment-attached substances.

• Infiltration and assimilation of plant 

nutrients.

• Water cooling effects resulting from 

reducing the incidence of solar radiation on 

small watercourses through shading.

A hedgerow will increase surface water 

infiltration by improving soil structure around its 

root zone. However, evapotranspiration may 

reduce groundwater recharge benefits.

Incidental Trapping of Snow or Soil

Although not a primary purpose, hedgerows 

may incidentally trap wind blown snow or soil.

Consider installing hedgerows on alignments 

that prevent trapping and accumulation of 

snow and sand on public roads.

Refer to the Windbreak/Shelterbelt 

Establishment (380) standard for criteria when 
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snow or sand trapping is a primary 

conservation purpose.

PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS

Plans and specifications for this practice shall 

be prepared for each site. Plans and 

specifications shall be recorded using 

approved specification sheets, job sheets, or 

narrative documentation in the conservation 

plan, or other acceptable documentation.

OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE

Vegetation shall be maintained to ensure 

continued control of odor movement and 

chemical drift.

Supplemental planting may be required when 

survival is too low to produce a continuous 

hedgerow.

Vegetation shall be protected from unwanted 

fire and grazing throughout its life span.

Pests shall be monitored and controlled.

Periodic applications of nutrients may be 

needed to maintain plant vigor.

Renovation activities shall be scheduled to 

prevent disturbance during the wildlife nesting 

season.

REFERENCES

National Biology Handbook, Part 614.4, 

“Conservation Corridor Planning at the 

Landscape Level”. Natural Resources 

Conservation Service, August 1999.

Shepherd, M., S. L. Buchmann, M. Vaughan, 

and S. H. Black. 2003. Pollinator Conservation 

Handbook. Xerces Society. Portland, OR.