Streamside Forest Buffers Preserving Water Quality

So you say "what does this have to do with renewable energy"? Water is our most critical form of renewable energy. It all starts with water.....

Studies by internationally acclaimed Stroud Water Research Center have shown that healthy forests bordering streams not only prevent numerous pollutants from reaching the water, but also multiply the stream's natural ability to cleanse itself of pollutants that do make their way into the water. On a small farm that is typical of many in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, best management practices including contour farming, terraces, and grass waterways work in tandem with a swale and forested buffer to protect the stream and therefore, the Chesapeake Bay.

"The science is now clear," says Bernard Sweeney, PhD, Director of the Stroud Water Research Center, "that widespread implementation of streamside forest buffers is one of the simplest, most cost effective approaches to eliminating many of the problems of the Chesapeake Bay..."