Farm Horizons
•
June 6, 2016
benefited area of public drainage systems” was deleted
from the 2015 law.
While there’s no way to quantify acres affected in
his county, Joe Norman, district technician for Meeker
County Soil and Water Conservation District, said he’s
looking at a lot less of a workload than he anticipated
under the original law.
“We were worried before when the private ditches
were going to be a part of it because we have a lot of old
private ditches in the county,” Norman said.
Additional updates to the law shift buffer jurisdiction
from state to local agencies. The local SWCD will be
the reporting party in instances of noncompliance, with
either the county government or, if the county declines
the responsibility, the Minnesota Board of Water and
Soil Resources (BWSR) issuing penalties.
“I believe the state wants to know by the end of March
2017 which counties will enforce themselves or give the
power back to the state,” Wanous said.
Local SWCDs will also offer technical assistance,
including guiding landowners through options for paid
programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program
and Reinvest in Minnesota, and advising each landowner what’s required on his or her property specifically.
“That’s our role — to work with the landowners to
try to get it in place. Where we can’t get it in place, then
we have to report to the enforcement body,” said Kerry
Saxton, district manager for Wright Soil and Water Con-
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Page 18
servation District.
Alternative practices
The updated law offers expanded opportunities for
something other than perennial buffers to provide comparable protection for waterways, including retention
ponds or alternative practices that prevent overland flow
to the water resources.
“BWSR is currently working on providing some more
guidance on that use of alternative practices. We don’t
have a lot of details on that yet, but that should be coming out this summer,” Wanous said.
These practices will be based on the NRCS Field Office Technical Guide or those approved by the Board
of Water and Soil Resources. Some such options may
be control basins (similar to terracing), side inlet pipes,
which Norman noted can be very cost-effective, or even
hay.
“People are looking for hay, so just doing perennial
crops like that and just allow them to hay it. That still
meets the buffer rule, but not everybody knows that,”
Norman said.
If a landowner fails to install buffers on identified waters, penalties may include a $500 fine. Whether that is
per tract, per landowner, per waterway, or per year is
unclear.
“My sense is people will get a notice and probably no
enforcement action at first. They’ll have the opportunity
to reestablish those areas. If they don’t do it, enforce-