Buffer Basics
What is a buffer?
People apply the term buffer to landscapes with different characteristics, ranging from naturally vegetated areas to those where mowing is allowed.
What do buffers do?
Healthy, intact buffers help keep our waters clean and our basements dry, offer a home for wildlife, and protect oyster beds and eelgrass.
How well do they work?
A buffer’s effectiveness depends on its characteristics—and the surrounding landscape adjacent to the buffer and in the larger watershed.
How to Manage Buffers
Working with Communities
How do you start a conversation about buffers? Where are the important buffers? What are the options for protecting them?
Working with Landowners
What can you do in a buffer?
How do you protect buffers?
What will it cost? What are the incentives? How do you restore a buffer?
Navigating Regulations
Who regulates buffers?
What's protected? What's not?
Why protect smaller streams & wetlands? Should all buffers be the same size?