For wildlife habitat, installation of this buffer design along both sides of a small stream provides an effective width of 100 ft. The general design described above provides a useful starting point for developing more efficient buffer designs. Several situations are presented below for which the general design should be adjusted. The landowner should expect less overall benefit from a narrower buffer, particularly for nutrient and pesticide runoff control and for wildlife habitat. In general, however, a narrow buffer provides more benefits than no buffer at all.
Narrower buffers require more careful selection of vegetation types in order to maximize benefits.
Federal, state, and privately supported incentive programs for conservation, forestry, or alternative products will vary in their requirements for vegetation type, minimum width, and management. Often, such programs require a greater land area than is provided by a 50-ft buffer width. This applies mainly to nutrient and pesticide runoff control and wildlife habitat. Be aware that there may be decreasing added benefit for each additional unit of width, such as is commonly observed for sediment filtration. Acceptable width for aesthetic benefits, such as visual diversity, is entirely a matter of the landowner's opinion.