Mower County landowners who have property appearing to need more vegetative buffers will receive notification letters soon encouraging their cooperation before the state’s first compliance deadline later this year.

Mower Soil & Water Conservation District planned to send buffer letters on Friday to about 300 landowners as part of its efforts to establish perennial vegetation on nearly 280 acres of cropland. Overall, Mower County has nearly 95 percent compliance for agricultural land along its public waterways, which are determined by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

“Most landowners getting this letter just need to buffer a small section of land to comply with the new state law,” said Aaron Gamm, Mower SWCD’s district technician and buffer coordinator. “Our office is ready to help them get this remaining portion buffered this year and go through the various program options.”

Buffers are areas or strips of land kept in permanent vegetation — not farmed — to slow water runoff and help filter out pollutants, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, as well as sediment. They also provide wildlife habitat and stabilize land along water.

Recipients of Mower SWCD’s buffer letter are strongly encouraged to connect with Gamm to discuss the potential need on their land. Landowners’ eligibility for future conservation and federal farm programs could be affected if they have not taken steps by this fall to address buffer needs under the state law, Gamm said.

Mower SWCD staff can provide technical assistance for measuring, staking, seeding and layout designing to landowners, Gamm said. There also are numerous conservation programs available to help landowners offset the loss of productive cropland, he said, including the newly announced Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) for Minnesota.

For more buffer information, go online to www.dnr.state.mn.us/index.html and www.bwsr.state.mn.us/buffers.