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Kingston,Mi | Tuscola, Huron, Bay and Sanilac Co. have hundreds of miles of buffers at 150 ft. width where 20 feet would be the required design width because that is the minimum recommended dimension on flat, heavy soils like your county. 150 feet was advocated by a pheasant hunter who worked in Farm Services Agency and could quote research that feral cats, coyotes ,red fox, native raptors and wild dogs were too stupid to find pheasants in wide filter strips. The strips were established with Conservation Reserve Program funds, when ditch maintenance is done, the drain commission has to restore the filter strip using the original grass mix and include it in the drainage district tax levy. Google map search Fairgrove Michigan for air photos of the extent. The operators where allowed to use the filter strips as head lands and turn on them but use as a paid for farm lane got a few tossed for misuse.
Edit: The filter strips were established to control sediment from row crop fields from entering the Saginaw Bay. Our office provided the manpower to collect data to support the research that led to the program including having wind sediment traps built and deployed in worked and adjacent covered sites to calculate the amount of wind born sediment was entering the waterways. Water erosion was easier to measure. Just imagine how much fun you could have removing a 6 inch wide strip of sediment bearing snow from a 10 or 12 ft. deep ditch , all the way to the vegetative cover on a Feb. day like today. These ditch depths are actual measurement with real survey grade tools, not the TV reporters 50 ft. fall from a 14 ft. overpass. The collected snow was allowed to melt in large trash cans then the sediment was collected and dried before weighing on an analytical scale. The filter strips have been very successful in reducing sediment delivery to the waterways where they are allowed to exist. Several NAT posters from the program eligible area went whole hog when the financial benefits were discussed.
Edited by BOGTROTTER 2/17/2019 10:52
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Buffer zones ???
