| Editorial about Proposed Buffer Legislation, John Swaine III |
Posted in the Star Democrat in January, 2009
<< Back to Archives
Talbot County Council
South Wing, Talbot County Courthouse
11 North Washington Street
Easton, Maryland 21601
Mr. Philip Carey Foster, President of the Talbot County Council:
The Maryland Critical Area Law adopted in 1989 states that all landowners shall establish and maintain a vegetated filter strip of not less than 25 feet along tidal shorelines and tributary streams of agricultural fields. Between August 13 of that year and May 13, 1991 all landowners were to become soil conservation district cooperators agreeing to use best management practices such as reduced tillage crop rotation, cover crops, proper nutrient application rates, proper timing of nutrient application and appropriate methods of application. After that date all landowners were required to have in place and be implementing a current Soil Conservation and Water Quality Plan approved by the local soil conservation district, written by a technically trained soil conservation planner.
In Talbot County there are 1288 farm parcels requiring a conservation plan, consisting of 124,600 acres or about 72% of the total land area. Of these parcels, 744 of them are in the Critical Area comprising 73,800 acres. These are farm and field specific plans developed to address soil erosion and water quality issues on each and every acre of the farm; no two are alike just as every farm is different. These plans are required to be revised every 10 years or whenever there is a change in ownership, management practice, farm operator, or participation in a USDA or Maryland Department of Agriculture farm cost-share conservation program. With the current workload of the 3 conservation planners in the Talbot Soil Conservation District (TSCD) office we are revising between 120 and 150 plans per year. Some more often than others due to the revision requirements stated above. This workload also includes processing cover crop applications on 30,500 acres of cropland, the technical design aspect of 6,000 acres enrolled in the CREP program, land assessments for the local farmland preservation program and other educational activities addressing soil and water conservation in the county.
It is our feeling that this amendment will have little if any noticeable impact on water quality. Many changes have occurred in farming methods in recent years. The almost complete adoption of No-till and other conservation tillage practices along with other Best Management Practice’s such as cover crops, nutrient management and pest management have allowed Talbot County farmers to remain good stewards of the land. Technology such as GPS based equipment guidance, yield mapping, variable rate prescription nutrient application, variable seeding rates and most recently the introduction of on-the-go crop sensing of nitrogen levels in the plant allowing precision nitrogen sidedress applications are bringing an even higher level of management to the farm.
In closing I would like to say that with over 600 miles of shoreline in the Critical Area of the county that as an alternative to this amendment we would like you to consider the creation of a fulltime planner position in the TSCD office, working exclusively with farmers and landowners in the Critical Area to update and better implement these Soil and Water Quality Conservation Plans. It is time for Talbot County Government to share in the financial responsibility of this task.
Respectively,
John Swaine, III
Chairman Talbot SCD Board of Supervisors
|
