Establishing and Managing Warm-Season Grasses for Conservation Buffers

Conservation buffers go by many different names depending on the field location, type of vegetation planted, and primary purpose of the intended planting. Whether the conservation buffers are called ‘vegetated filter strips,’ ‘contour strips,’ ‘buffer strips,’ ‘riparian buffers,’ ‘grass buffers,’ ‘grass hedges,’ or ‘grassed waterways,’ these small strips of land in perennial vegetation are designed, in part, to buffer the landscape against the negative effects of water moving across the land. Conservation buffers can increase soil organic matter and reduce erosion by slowing water runoff and trapping sediment, resulting in the interception of fertilizers and pesticides and enhanced water infiltration.