Buffer Strip - Planting Vegetation

Planting Vegetation

Grassed waterways

The USDA shows that the use of less than 5% slopes for a chosen waterway will greatly reduce velocity of draining water within the land. The NRCS offers the use of an online Soil survey to view the area of land to be planted and examine slope and soil drainage. As viewed by the NRCS, soil drainage is the number one priority for location of certain grasses. Poorer drainage causes less infiltration of water into the soil as groundwater recharge causing ponding and flooding of surrounding crops. Higher drainage becomes more droughty which hinders the establishment of certain grasses good for waterways. Medium soil drainage becomes the most suitable for planting. Determining exact grasses and seed amounts to plant follows specifications of a local NRCS Field Office Technical Guide and the Contour Buffer practice standard while taking practice on land and regional environmental conditions into consideration.

Contour strip cropping

The NRCS has shown contour strips have the greatest effectiveness when slopes of the area are within 4-8%. For greater success in lowering the erosion, contour strips on the slopes need to follow the contours of the landscape. Row crops like corn, legumes, or soybeans should alternate strips of small grains or forages to successfully limit erosion and slowing or capturing the runoff of fertilizers and pesticides. Tests from the NRCS have shown that the smaller tighter rooted grasses and hays provide more surface cover to prevent rain and wind erosion while slowing runoff, increasing infiltration, and trapping sediment from the high erosive row crops. Proper planting of the contour crops is important for higher success of erosion control to protect highly fertile topsoil.