What Is Going On?
Legislation has been introduced to establish and protect riparian buffers in Connecticut — it's called HB 7174 An Act Concerning Riparian Buffers and Associated Environmental Provisions.
What Does HB 7174 Do?
Among its key provisions, HB 7174 incorporates the protection of riparian buffers into Connecticut’s laws—something that is currently missing from our regulatory and statutory framework. In fact, Connecticut is the only state in New England without explicit protections for riparian buffers.
Why Is This Important?
Riparian buffers are the simplest, most efficient tool we have to achieve goals of protecting landowners and communities from extreme weather and improving water quality —at little-to-no cost compared to expensive engineered solutions.
What Can I Do?
1. Keep reading to learn what riparian buffers are and why they are important.
2. Review HB 7174 and understand its significance.
3. Use your voice! Tell your legislators what you think of this bill by submitting written testimony before the Public Hearing on Monday, March 17th.
What is a Riparian Buffer?
A riparian area is a strip of land alongside a body of water. If managed properly, riparian areas will include stretches of native vegetation, or "buffers" that protect the streambank and water itself from polluted stormwater.
UCONN CLEAR found that from 1985-2015, CT saw a 2.6% reduction in forests within the 300-foot riparian zone along with a 1.3% loss of agricultural fields and other grasses (i.e. meadows). In place, the riparian landscape gained 2.3% in the developed lands and 1.3% in turf and grasses.
CT's mature riparian habitats are being threatened by increased development.
The Benefits of Buffers
1. Provide Shade and Habitat
Buffers, and the woody debris they produce, provide food and shelter for birds, mammals, amphibians, and more in and out of the stream while keeping our waters cool. Continuous riparian buffers can also double as wildlife corridors, allowing species whose habitats have become fragmented by human development to migrate more safely!
2. Prevent Erosion
The roots of riparian plants, especially trees and shrubs, hold soils in place, preventing streambank erosion during high flows. Buffers are also an effective, and relatively low-cost, way for riparian landowners to slow their property loss due to erosion without altering the stream channel with armoring (riprap).
3. Protect Water Quality
Buffers protect water quality trapping and filtering out pollutants in stormwater runoff before they can reach our waterways. Desktop pollutant load modeling for the Pomperaug Watershed demonstrated that restoring 50% of riparian buffers that are currently < 50ft wide to a width of 50ft would be as effective as five other engineered solutions combined in reducing fecal coliform bacteria runoff and would be far more cost-effective!
4. Reduce Flooding
Buffers absorb rainwater during storm events. In this way, they can help protect communities from weather extremes, such as the floods that devastated our watershed last summer.
