Buffer Streams

above: Mud Creek below: nearby creek kept clean by buffers

“Every once in a while, something happens that makes you feel good about your job,” explains NRCS district conservationist Mark Roberts in Savannah, Tennessee. Mark had taken a landowner who plans to plant filter strips to look at some Switchgrass strips. Since it had been raining, both Mark and the landowner noticed as they crossed over Mud Creek that the stream was living up to it’s moniker. The two drove a little further to look at another farm that had a couple of large sunflower fields with Switchgrass filter strips surrounding almost the entire length of a small stream running through the field. As they drove by, the landowner shouted "Stop...Back Up!” He pointed to the stream and said "That water looks clear enough to drink. That shows just what your agency and these buffers can accomplish!”

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Roberts reflected, “That kind of enthusiasm coming from a man who hasn't even planted his buffers yet made me feel really good about what we do.”
Your contact is Lavonne Winters, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 615-277-2535 or lwinters@tn.nrcs.usda.gov.