Sign up from January 29, 2024 – March 8, 2024 for MDA’s conservation buffer initiative. You can sign up online using the Maryland Department of Agriculture application or come to our office to pick up a copy or call our office for us to mail you one. Applications need a map highlighting where the planting will occur and a current Nutrient Management Plan Certification form. Email your application to: conservation.buffer@maryland.gov or mail to Maryland Department of Agriculture, c/o Conservation Buffer Initiative, 50 Harry S. Truman Parkway, Annapolis MD 21401
Maryland Department of Agriculture’s Buffer Initiative website.
Additional Tree Planting Incentives Available in 2024
Incentives for plant riparian forest buggers are available again this year. These payments are on top of the $4,000-or $4,500 per acre offered for installation. To encourage more tree planting, the new incentives include:
- A one-time bonus payment of $1,000 per acre to install forest buffers
- Up to $330/acre/year to help cover costs associated with maintaining forest buffer viability and health for the first 5 years of the contract.
- Applications will be accepted January 29, 2024 through March 8, 2024
- Al work must be completed by June 30, 2025.
Program Highlights:
Three types of buffers are eligible for funding and free technical assistance from local soil conservation districts under this program:
- Forest buffers planted next to waterways
- Grass buffers next to waterways or field ditches
- Watercourse access control areas adjacent to pastures.
se
Program Specifics:
- Payment rates range from $500/acres for an existing grass buffer to a maximum of $4,500/acres to install a riparian forest buffer with pasture fencing.
- Mowing and hay harvesting are allowed; nutrient applications are not.
- Farmers receive a one-time payment for enrolled land.
- An extra one-time bonus payment is offered for enrolled for forest buffers.
- Annual maintenance payments are available for forest buffers during the first five years.
- Contracts are for 5 or 10 years.
- Soil Conservation Districts provide free technical assistance to get your buffer installed.
Choose your Buffer
Grass Buffers on Watercourses – Establish a new buffer or improve an existing buffer between cropland, and either, an adjacent watercourse or field ditch. Buffers are herbaceous and range in width from 10 feet to 100 feet.
Forest Buffers on Watercourses – Establish a new buffer or improve an exiting buffer between cropland and an adjacent watercourse. Buffers are planted with trees and shrubs and range in width from 35 feet to 100 feet.
Watercourse Access Control Area – Establish a new access control area for improve an existing access control area between an adjacent watercourse and an active livestock pasture. The conservation buffer located between the fence and the watercourse may be planted in grass or trees and shrubs. It may range in width from 10 feet to 100 feet but must be at least 35 feet wide if establishing woody vegetation. No grazing allowed in the access control area.
Qualifying Land:
- Cropland next to a stream or ditch that has an established cropping history in pasture, commodity crops or hay.
- Areas adjacent to watercourses with highly erodible or hydric soils, as determined by the local soil conservation district.
- Field ditches are not eligible to establish woody conservation buffers.
- Existing buffers or agricultural lands that are actively enrolled in state (MACS) in federal programs (CRP, CREP, EQIP, etc) or mandated by an easement are not eligible for this program.
Program Eligibility
- Farmers and landowners who are responsible for the management of eligible lands may apply.
- Farmers who lease land must certify an active lease for the term of the buffer, or provide an agreement from the landowner.
- Farmers and landowners must be in good standing with USDA and state cost-share programs.
- A current Nutrient Management Plan Certification is required and must be submitted with the application.
- Additional restrictions may apply.
How to Apply
- Contact your local soil conservation district to apply.
- Download the application.
- Provide map showing the location and acreage of the buffer.
- Provide current, signed Nutrient Management Plan Certification form. (Consult your nutrient management preparer)
Questions?
Kent County, MD farmers and landowners can call their Soil and Water Conservation District office at 410-778-5150. We are here to help you.
Funding for Maryland’s Conservation Buffer Initiative is provided by the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund and the Environmental Protection Agency.