Butler SWCD Home

Stream Stewardship

A stream’s buffer zone, also called the riparian buffer area, is the strip of natural vegetation along the banks that separates the body of water from developed areas (lawns, buildings, driveways, etc.) A healthy buffer zone with stabilize stream banks, reduce erosion, provide wildlife habitat, increase beauty, reduce sediment and chemicals from rainwater runoff, and provide shade to keep stream water at a cooler temperature for healthy plants and animals and less algae growth. For existing urban backyards, a 10-foot buffer zone is essential. For mid-sized streams, a 25-foot buffer zone is recommended and for very large streams, a 150-foot buffer zone is not only ideal, it’s smart!

Problem: Mowing right to the stream edge may look nice and neat but it’s actually creating a disaster, faster! If you eliminate a buffer zone’s natural plants and bushes, you also lose the root systems that hold the soil in place. The result, the banks erode faster, they de-stabilize and the crumble andcave-in.

Simple Solution:
• Keep you stream’s buffer zones “mower free”
• If your buffer zones are healthy, maintain them!
• If your buffer zones are degrading, improve them!

One of the easiest and most inexpensive methods of stabilizing streambanks is the use of live, but dormant, unrooted cuttings (no buds, leaves or visible roots). Bare root seedlings are another economical option. The specific type of trees or shrubs will depend on soil type and geographic location. It is best to use native woody plants for restoring streamside habitat. The following species develop a dense, fibrous root system to help hold soil in place and are recommended for the Butler County area.

Trees:
• Sycamore
• Green ash
• Sweet gum
• Cotton wood
• Hackberry
• Box elder
• Silver maple

Shrubs:
• Bottonbush (if you have a constant supply of water)
• Black chokeberry
• Elderberry
• Bittersweet (scientific name is celastrus scandris)
• Spice bush (for drier areas)
• Viburnum (for drier areas)
• Silky dogwood
• Common alder
• Red-osier dogwood

Groundcovers:
• Trumpet creeper
• Trumpet honeysuckle

Tree seedlings should be placed 10 feet apart within the row and the rows should be 10-foot apart as well. Shrubs can be intermixed with the hardwoods at five foot spacing. You should alternate species we you plant them. For additional information contact the Butler Soil and Water Conservation District at 513-887-3720 or butlerswcd@butlercountyohio.org.