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Wetland and Stream Buffer Size Requirements—A Review
Author(s) -
Castelle A. J.,
Johnson A. W.,
Conolly C.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq1994.00472425002300050004x
Subject(s) - wetland , streams , buffer zone , buffer (optical fiber) , environmental science , computer science , environmental resource management , water resource management , ecology , biology , computer network , telecommunications
Upland vegetated buffers are widely regarded as being necessary to protect wetlands, streams, and other aquatic resources. Buffer size requirements, however, have typically been established by political acceptability, not scientific merit. This often leads to insufficiently buffered aquatic resources. In order to assist public agencies in formulating appropriate buffer standards, we conducted a literature search of the scientific functions of buffers. The literature search reconfirmed the need for buffers and emphasized the importance of considering specific buffer functions. A range of buffer widths from 3 m to 200 m was found to be effective, depending on site‐specific conditions; a buffer of at least 15 m was found to be necessary to protect wetlands and streams under most conditions.