Working Buffer Pilot Project
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This effort by Snohomish Conservation District, NOAA Restoration Center, and Puget Sound Partnership aims to identify property owners that want to redesign their land use to both increase agricultural viability and productivity, while increasing Riparian Buffer Functions, while retaining their property rights and maximizing the private use of their lands. Our goal is to help private land owners understand and use of the diverse and confusing array of programs and regulations that affect their decision making, both supporting implementation of good projects, and providing feedback to government programs on how they can improve their practices to meet the needs of rural communities.
The project completed outreach and survey activities in Fall and Winter of 2013-14, developed outreach materials in winter 2014-15, and installed a pilot site in the 2015-16 planting season. Ongoing work is integrated into Coordinated Investment.
Products
- File:Carr et al 2014 snohomish landowner buffer preference survey.pdf describes the results of a focus group and mail survey asking Snohomish County private land owners in agricultural landscapes about there preferences for riparian zone management.
- File:Cereghino 2015 working buffers info sheet.pdf provide two page summary of the working buffer concept and how it relates to riparian function restoration.
- File:Dittbrenner et al 2015 working buffers analysis.pdf - provides a preliminary policy analysis of the potential for agroforestry systems to increase riparian function in managed and severely modified landscapes. It includes informational materials for producers describing four practices funded under the NRCS EQIP program.
- File:Dittbrenner 2015 conservation program cheat sheet.pdf summarizes conservation options and was used as part of landowner outreach.
Notes
- Some of the original inspiration for this project came from the traditional Satoyama landscapes of Japan, where a thousand years of continuous occupation resulted in complex multi-function landscapes with high ecological and economic function.
- The Agroforestry page has general links about agroforestry
- A critical piece of managing agricultural water quality involves designing buffering systems that respond to site specific patterns of pollutant loading and stormwater flow. Systems for harvesting surface water for irrigation may reduce pressure on riparian buffer systems by using concentrated surface flows.
- Nick Pate at Raising Cane Ranch used NOAA and Snohomish Conservation District support to install a demonstration site following this work.
