Shoreline Conservation

Designing Landscape Buffers for Water Quality

Shoreline Conservation

• Topics

• Designing Shoreline Buffers for Water Quality

• Concepts & Examples

• Guidelines for Installing a Buffer

• Maintenance Guidelines

• Native Plants for Shoreline Buffers

Designing Shoreline Buffers

Design Process• Site Analysis

• Define Goals

• Accurately Map Existing Site Conditions

• Develop Schematic Design

• Refine Design, Select Plants

Concepts and Examples

Guidelines for Installing Buffers

Guidelines for Installing Buffers

• If possible let natural succession take the lead and adjust from there.

• Handle erosion forces with bio-engineering techniques, when applicable.

• Minimize ground disturbance, preserve existing root mass.

• Select plants based upon plant community models.

Cylindrical structures composted of coconut husk fibers bound together with twine woven from coconut material to protect slopes from erosion while trapping sediment which encourages plant growth within the fiber roll.

Coconut Fiber Rolls

Alternating layers of plantings and compacted soil with natural or synthetic geo-textile materials wrapped around each soil lift to rebuild and vegetate eroded shoreline. This may be used in conjunction with stone armoring.

Vegetated Geogrids

Maintenance Guidelines

Maintenance Guidelines

• Select desired succession level and manage accordingly• Keep undesirable trees and shrubs minimized by cut and paint• No fertilizers or sprayed herbicides if possible

Native Plants For Shoreline Buffers

IronweedVeronia noveboracensis

Cardinal FlowerLobelia cardinalis

Joe-Pye-WeedEupatorium fistulosum

River OatsChasmanthium latifolium

Switch GrassPanicum virgatum

Narrow Leaved CattailTypha angustifolia

Blue Flag IrisIris versicolor

White Top SedgeRhynchospora colorata

Soft RushJuncus effusus

Virginia SweetspireItea virginica

Summer Sweet ClethraClethra alnifolia