Stream Buffers

Forest vegetation along streambanks provides a “living filter” for both surface and subsurface water running off the land, trapping sediment, nutrients, chemicals, and other pollutants. Tree roots help hold the soil and control erosion. Stream buffers capture rainfall better than any other land use, preventing flooding and recharging groundwater so the stream doesn’t dry out in summer.

No stream is too small to benefit from a buffer on its banks. In fact, the smaller the stream, the more good a buffer will do because it will shade the entire width of the stream.

The Benefits of Stream Buffers (Chesapeake Bay Program 2003):

• Filtering Runoff: Rain that runs off the land can be slowed and infiltrated in the buffer, which helps settle out sediment, nutrients, and pesticides before they reach streams. Studies have shown that stream buffers reduce 30 to 98 percent of sediment, pesticides, and other pollutants in surface and groundwater.
• Stabilizing Streambanks: Trees provide deep root systems which hold soil in place, thereby stabilizing streambanks and reducing erosion.
• Nutrient Uptake: Fertilizers and other pollutants that originate on the land are taken up by tree roots. Nutrients are stored in leaves, limbs and roots instead of reaching the stream.
• Canopy and Shade: Shading moderates water temperatures and protects against rapid fluctuations that can harm stream health and reduce fish spawning and survival.
• Habitat: Riparian forests offer a tremendous diversity of habitat that is crucial to many species of birds, amphibians, turtles, and mammals.

You may wish to select stream buffers as an Action Issue for your jurisdiction if sediment or nutrients have been identified as pollutants in the basinwide plan. If you have fishing resources in your jurisdiction, stream buffers can help to protect their health. Another reason to select stream buffers is if you have a lot of new development in your jurisdiction in order to protect these important resources before they are removed.

Target Audiences

• Developers
• Homeowners
• Civic organizations, such as garden clubs and scouting troops, who may be interested in planting new stream buffers.

Approaches

If you want to address stream buffers in your jurisdiction, you need to take different approaches for new versus existing development. On new development sites, the focus will be on protecting existing forested stream buffers BEFORE development activities remove them. The list of existing educational materials below includes a model ordinance for stream buffer protection.

On existing development, you will be looking for target audiences that have enough interest and enthusiasm to establish new forested stream buffers where there currently may be lawn all the way to the edge of the stream. These audiences may include a garden club, neighborhood association or scouting troop. The toolbox includes many materials that can be used to support these efforts.

Existing Educational Materials

Do not use any materials on this website without first contacting the sponsoring organization and obtaining their permission.

Slogans

• Don’t Let Your Stream Go Bare! (NC Division of Water Quality)

Ordinances

• Model Ordinance for Aquatic Buffer Protection (EPA)

Public Outreach

• Restore Corps (Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay)
• Stream ReLeaf Program (MD DNR) uses citizen volunteers to create and restore streamside forests along waterways. Contact MD DNR for more information: Central Region (including Baltimore City and County): 410-836-4551; Eastern Region: 410-543-6749; Southern Region: 301-464-3065 and Western Region: 301-777-2137.
• TREE-Mendous Maryland Program (MD DNR) plants trees in designated groves to increase greenways and natural habitats as well as to buffer waterways. For $25, a tree can be planted to commemorate a special event or to honor the memory of a loved one. Call 410-260-8531 for more information.        

Public Venues: Presentations

• Introduction to Riparian Plants (NC Cooperative Extension Service)
• Designing Effective Urban Stream Buffers (Center for Watershed Protection)

Print Materials: Brochures

• Vegetated Buffers: Protecting Water Quality in Coastal North Carolina (NC National Estuarine Research Reserve)
• Riparian Buffers Fact Sheet (NC Cooperative Extension)
• Backyard Buffers (Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay)
• Agricultural Riparian Buffers (NC Cooperative Extension)
• Aquatic Buffers Fact Sheet (Center for Watershed Protection)

Print Materials: Detailed Technical Information

• Vegetated Buffers: Protecting Water Quality in Coastal North Carolina (NC National Estuarine Research Reserve)
• The Architecture of Urban Stream Buffers (Center for Watershed Protection)
• Understanding the Science Behind Riparian Forest Buffers: Effects on Water Quality (VA Cooperative Extension Service)
• Backyard Buffers (Connecticut River Joint Commissions)
• The Buffer Handbook (Maine DEP)
• Select Agricultural BMPs to Control Nitrogen in the Neuse River Basin (NC State University)

Websites

• Aquatic Buffers (Center for Watershed Protection)
• Protect the Waterfront (Carolina Yards and Neighborhoods)
• Riparian Buffers: What Do They Do and How Do They Work (NCSU Soil Science Dept.)