Chesapeake Bay environment and water quality blog

Declining Planting Rate for Forested Riparian Buffers

Link Posted on March 11, 2014

Declining Planting Rate for Forested Riparian Buffers

After posting yesterday about tree cover in the Chesapeake region, I came across this article from the Bay Journal on riparian forested buffer zones. According to author Karl Blankenship, streamside tree planting rates are falling. Forested buffers improve stream health, and help states in the Chesapeake watershed reach Bay cleanup goals. The six states, and the District of Columbia, which make up the Chesapeake Bay watershed, have pledged to plant 15,000 miles of forested buffers by 2025; yet last year only 202 miles were planted. Blankenship outlines the implications of this declining rate of planting, and looks at what needs to be done to turn the trend around.