Buffers also provide habitat for many plants and animals. Some of the critters that live in buffer strips can live nowhere else and many of the stream's residents could not survive without the shade and cover provided by streambank buffers.

We Americans have a long history of neglecting our environment. Our waters tell the tale. Streams are clogged with sediment. Swimming holes become unusable as bacteria counts rise. Flood events wreak more devastation then they once might have. Why? Right here in Vermont, we mow our lawns to the very edge of our rivers and ponds. We build our roads along streams. Historically, we grew crops right to the river's edge.

If we knew then what we know now — that maintaining only a short stubble of grass near ponds and streams leads to warmer water, which translates into less oxygen in the water, which kills fish, literally. And those charming roads that wind alongside streams? They lead to beaten-up banks, which erode, and in so doing dump sediment into the stream in which you dip your toes.

Better buffers, however, filter rainwater and capture surface runoff. The wider the buffer, the more varied, and the bigger the plants, the better the buffer will filter out sediment and trap runoff pollutants like excess fertilizers, animal wastes and auto fluid leaks.

Buffers also function to slow the flow of runoff, allowing more water to infiltrate soils and replenish our groundwater, rather than tear at our streambanks and stream beds. But a buffer can only work if it's sizable.

Maintaining a buffer width of at least 50 feet is often recommended, but wider buffers are sometimes called for. On banks that slope towards streams or are steeper, bigger buffers will be necessary. Bigger buffers will also be needed where soils are wet, sandy, or shallow.

The more intensively the land adjacent to the buffer is used, the wider the buffer needs to be to control for all that soil disturbance or use of farm or lawn chemicals. If the land is in a floodplain or drains a large area, a wider buffer will be necessary. And a wider stream with faster moving water will require a bigger buffer to properly stabilize banks.

The better-buffer movement is already underway. Bit by bit, Vermont farmers and other landowners have been making headway by improving streambanks. But since we're all part of the problem, we must all be part of the solution. By protecting streambank buffers we can prevent erosion, improve water quality, provide better habitat for wildlife, and realize a more beautiful Vermont. From landowner to local governments, we can all help restore and protect the buffers that guard the waters of Vermont.

The USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service provides cost-share funding for many buffer related projects. The State's Urban and Community Forestry Program provides grants for tree plantings, including plantings along downtown watercourses.

And our local Trout Unlimited chapter is kicking off a buffer planting initiative this spring. I encourage you to contact me at 802 254-5323 x105 or sylvia.harris@vt.nacdnet.net, or the Bennington County Conservation District office at 802 442-2275 or bccd@sover.net for more information.

Sylvia Harris is the Agricultural Resource Specialist for the Bennington County Conservation District and the four other southern Vermont Conservation Districts. Her responsibilities include helping farmers protect groundwater resources (F*A*S Program), assisting in the state's watershed planning efforts, and advising the agricultural community on accepted agricultural practices (AAPs).