Minnesota Buffer Law

Back in 2015, Gov. Dayton of Minnesota passed the Minnesota Buffer Law.

Minn. Stat. 103F.48 subd. 1(c) reads:

• Requires that landowners around certain surface waters maintain vegetative buffer strips, with a goal of protecting waterways from erosion and runoff pollution, stabilizing shore, and providing riparian corridors.

• Around Public Water landowners must maintain a buffer with a 50’ average width and 30’ minimum width. 

• A buffer is an area consisting of perennial vegetation, excluding invasive plants and noxious weed, adjacent to all bodies of water within the state and that protects the water resources of the state from runoff pollution; stabilizes soils, shore, and banks; and protects or provides riparian corridors.

Why is the MN Buffer Law Important?

Essentially, this law is being passed to protect waterways from agricultural runoff. Agricultural runoff includes fertilizers, pesticides, and animal waste that contribute to polluting waterways and have the potential to end up in our drinking water systems.

One of the largest opponents to this law are the farmers. The buffer zone would cut into their acreage, leaving them with less land to grow and profit from.

Everyone wants clean water, right? Let’s dive in a little further to see if we can find some common ground.

What are the environmental impacts?

The US Dept of Agriculture and Minnesota released an article entitled, “Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Practice Standard” and gave these reasons on why the buffer zone is beneficial:

• Reduces soil erosion and sedimentation

• Improve water quality

• Improve air quality

• Enhance wildlife habitat

• Improve soil quality

• Manage plant pests

As a restoration ecologist, I head out into these native wetland habitats, and I’m able to observe these fascinating biological interactions take place. 

What’s the Deal with Wetlands Anyway? How do they work?

Did you know wetlands have the ability to recycle pollutants before they enter our drinking water? These processes can be very complex and sensitive when disturbed. Let’s take a closer look.

This image details the plant’s ability to remove harmful chemicals, filter, and recycle them back into the atmosphere through a process termed denitrification.  But plants don’t do this alone. They receive plenty of help from heterotroph (organisms that ingest or absorb inorganic Carbon) microbes that also help to recycle these nutrients. 

For a more on this, we have an article from the University of Purdue:

• “Nitrates are lost from upland sites primarily through subsurface drainage. In the wetland, nitrates are absorbed by plants or converted (through an anaerobic process called denitrification) to nitrogen gas and lost to the atmosphere. Nitrate-N is efficiently removed from wetland surface waters by aquatic plants.

• Ammonium-N enters wetlands primarily through surface runoff. In the wetland, ammonia is absorbed by plants or converted to nitrogen gas through volatilization. Nitrification can also occur, changing ammonia into nitrites and nitrates. The nitrate form of nitrogen is more readily removed from surface water by wetland plants than the ammonium form.

• Phosphorus, organic nitrogen and some metals (iron or aluminum) usually attach to sediment and are carried by runoff to the wetland. By holding water, a wetland allows sediment and large particles to settle on the wetland bottom. The root systems of wetland plants then absorb nutrients from the sediment. Much like phosphorus, some pesticides also bind to sediment materials. Surface runoff carries the sediment materials to the wetlands and deposits them on the wetland bottom.”

The MN Buffer Zone Law Isn’t Perfect

So what about the farmers?

The buffer law gives four options for farmers to plant within the given buffer zone. One of these options includes seeding hay and forage crops for cattle to graze on. However, this would then encourage grazing close to these same waterways we’re trying to keep clean, and animal waste would contribute to pollution.

What do farmers do already to alleviate the problem?

Farmers use slow release Nitrogen fertilizers that are more stable and able to be absorbed easier than before.

Farmers also own technology that allows them to test the soil, check the nitrogen content, and ensure over-spraying will not occur, which ensures no leaching of chemicals.

Conclusion

Watersheds and wetlands should always be looked at as sensitive sites. A lot is going on that helps improve our overall health we don’t necessarily see with our own eyes. The Minnesota Buffer Law is a step in the right direction.

Remember, we’re more connected than we think.

Extras

Here is a helpful Q & A article demonstrating expectations from the Minnesota Corn Growers Association: 

http://www.mncorn.org/2016/05/09/everything-you-need-to-know-about-minnesotas-buffer-laws/