Buffer Zones, Great for Us and Wildlife

Plant Blue Flag Iris and native grasses to filter water run off.

“Our water belongs to all of us!” Governor Mark Dayton of Minnesota

To improve water quality in our yards and along lakes and streams we need to slow water down and keep it on our property. This helps to keep chemicals and sediment on our properties instead of washing away. Native plants and buffer strips would be a great start to improve water run-off.

This is a post about the need to improve farm water run-off.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has proposed vigorous legislation that has farm groups upset. Unfortunately, when the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972, agriculture was not included, and feel any regulation of their water run off is an unfair burden. Somehow farm groups miss the point that all our communities are required to spend millions of dollars to keep our drinking water, rivers and lakes clean. Farm run-off has a pass.

I have written on these pages before of my disappointment of Minnesota to enforce their buffer zones laws. Minnesota’s Governor Dayton has proposed stiffer enforcement to get land owners to comply and install buffers. This is a win-win for the people of Minnesota, the Mississippi River, Minnesota’s over 10,000 lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. It could create fabulous habitat for Minnesota’s butterflies, birds, bees, and all wildlife.