On June 13, 2015,
Governor Mark Dayton of Minnesota signed all special session bills passed by
the legislature, including the Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources
Finance Bill (SF 5). Section 79 (see pg. 138) of the
bill mandates all designated public waterways to have riparian buffers to
protect water resources.
Under the new law, buffers
for designated public waterways are required to be on average 50-foot width,
with a 30-foot minimum. The implementation
of buffers on designated public waterways must be completed by November 2017
and public ditches, which must have 16½-foot buffers, completed by November 2018. The obligation to determine which streams,
headwaters, and ditches require buffers will fall on the state’s 90 county soil
and water conservation districts.
According to a document
on the Minnesota Governor’s website, this legislation was one of Dayton’s top
priorities and will help to protect Minnesota’s water resources. The Bill has received criticism from environmental
groups. Environmentalists are stating
the law has not gone far enough to protect public water ways. Steve Morse, Executive Director of Minnesota
Environmental Partnership, stated, “We in the environmental community are
extremely disappointed in the revised bill released by Legislature today … With
the exception of a modest improvement on water quality with more enforcement of
vegetative buffers, this bill is absolutely a step backwards for Minnesota’s
environment.”
Written by Katharine Richter - Research Assistant
June 16, 2015
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