Farm Horizons
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June 6, 2016
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Page 17
Amended buffer legislation offers
clarification, but not all questions answered
By Marie Zimmerman
The revised buffer strip legislation signed by Governor Mark Dayton in April is meant to provide clarification on the controversial law passed in 2015, but it also
generated more questions.
“All we can really do so far is try to describe the law
to the best of our ability, knowing that there’s a lot of
questions, in particular in regards to the alternative
practices section, the other waters section, and how enforcement is going to be handled,” said Mike Wanous,
district manager for Carver County Soil and Water Conservation District.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
(DNR) is in the process of mapping all waters subject
to the buffer requirements. The public comment period
ended May 31 for preliminary buffer protection maps,
and the completed maps are expected by July.
Under the law, buffer widths will be an average of
50 feet, with a minimum of 30 feet on public waters,
and a minimum of 16.5 feet on public drainage systems
(ditches). The starting point for measuring the 16.5 foot
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buffer along ditches was changed in the 2015 law to
match the language in state drainage law (103E.021).
Public waters must be in compliance by Nov. 1, 2017,
and public drainage systems by Nov. 1, 2018. Public
ditches are drainage systems that were legally established under Minnesota Statue 103E.
“In the case of a public ditch, the people whose land
drains into that public ditch system are assessed benefits. They basically pay a tax to maintain that ditch system,” Wanous said.
By contrast, public waters are those identified by the
DNR in its public waters inventory conducted in the late
1970s, including streams, lakes, and wetlands.
Language state agencies were using to expand the
buffer mandate to private drainage ditches “within the