Riparian buffer strips – foreign experience and readjustment to lithuanian conditions

Abstract

Intensification of agricultural activity, increasing areas of cultivable land and reclamation works in the river valleys (canalizing and deepening of the river bed, installation of drainage systems) have a significant influence on the natural carcass. Destruction of riparian buffer strips in river valleys breaks the existing natural ecosystems, which function as natural biochemical barriers providing the landscape with aesthetic scenery, protecting the biodiversity and reducing pollution of surface waters. Vegetative buffer strips, located along the riversides, have been recognized to be the most effective measure for the water protection against non-point agricultural pollution in many countries of the world. Still, there is some uncertainty about the design of buffer strips, which is related with the variety of hydrological parameters of the river basins and with the factors determining the peculiarities of pollutants‘ flow (type and density of the strip vegetation, width and slope of the strip). The purpose of this paper is to review and summarise published research on the efficiency and management of riparian buffer strips and on the basis of the completed analysis, to formulate the main principles the riparian buffer strips‘ design, rehabilitation and management in Lithuania and to present calculations of their economical efficiency. The methods of logical analysis and synthesis, comparison, statistical analysis, calculation of relative indices and generalization have been used in this work. This study enables to distinguish the optimal buffer strips‘ management measures that are suitable to the particular Lithuanian conditions, to suggest approximate widths of riparian buffer strips in typical regions of Lithuania, and to estimate relative costs, expedience and priorities of the buffer strips‘ re-establishment and maintenance.