In order to ease the task of developing a new design for each buffer application, we present a general width and vegetation design which we think can be used in most cropland situations with acceptable results. Planting trees and shrubs in well-spaced rows make maintenance activities, such as mowing or mulching, easier to do. Effectiveness This buffer design provides good levels and balance of most buffer benefits. Trees and shrubs near the waterway stabilize the bank, improve and protect the aquatic environment, and protect cropland from flood erosion and debris damage. Grass disperses and slows the flow of runoff from adjacent crop fields which promotes settling of sediment and infiltration of nutrients and pesticides, while vigorously growing vegetation and soil microbes take up nutrients and some pesticides.
Perennial vegetation provides wildlife habitat and visual diversity to a cropland landscape.
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.