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BUFFERAREAS <br /> Sec.78-1605.Wetland buffer areas. <br /> (a) This subsection establishes requirements for wetland buffer areas around protected <br /> wetlands. Buffer areas are necessary and beneficial to maintain the health of wetlands. Buffer areas <br /> protect the edge of wetlands from erosion while filtering sediment, chemicals and other nutrients from <br /> runoff that drains into wetlands. Buffer areas can improve the biological diversity and health of a wetland <br /> environment while reducing the adverse impacts of human activities. <br /> (b) Buffer areas regulated by this section are areas of vegetative cover that are upland of the <br /> wetland edge, and that occur in a natural condition or through restoration. Buffer areas consist of <br /> shrubbery and trees, native grasses and/or forbs that are not mowed, fertilized or manicured in any <br /> manner. Mowing, fertilizing, manicuring, or vegetation removal within a buffer area is not allowed unless <br /> the city has issued a permit for such activity in conjunction with an approved buffer management plan. <br /> (1) . Acceptable buffer areas shall have the following qualities: <br /> a. A continuous dense layer of perennial grasses that have been uncultivated or <br /> .�..,,, unbroken for at least ten consecutive years, or ,;..4�, <br /> _ti�.. . . <br /> b. An over story of trees and/or shrubs with at least 80 percent canopy closure that <br /> have been uncultivated or unbroken for at least ten consecutive years, or • <br /> c. A mixture of the plant communities described in a. and b. above, which have <br /> been uncultivated or unbroken for at least ten consecutive years. <br /> (2) Unacceptable buffer areas have the following qualities, including but not limited to: <br /> a. Undesirable plant species(including but not limited to reed canary grass, <br /> common buckthorn, purple loosestrife, leafy spurge and noxious weeds), or <br /> b. Lacking a layer of organic fhatch or duff, or <br /> c. Topography which tends to channelize the flow of surtace runoff, or <br /> d. Is characteristically unlikely to retain nutrients and sediment. <br /> (3) Buffer areas which have been broken or cultivated within the past ten consecutive years <br /> must be restored to a condition consistent with an acceptable buffer area defined in <br /> section 78-1605(b)(1), a restoration or landscape plan must be submitted to the planning <br /> director, which restoration shall include, replanting and maintaining according to each of <br /> the following guidelines: <br /> a. Buffer areas shall be planted with a seed mix containing 100 percent perennial <br /> . native plant species, except for a one-time planting of an annual nurse or cover <br /> � crop such as oats or rye. <br /> b. The seed mix to be used shall consist of at least 12 pounds pure live seed (PLS) <br /> per acre of native prairie grass seed and five pounds PLS per acre of native <br /> forbs. Native prairie grass and native forb mixes shall contain no fewer than four <br /> and five species respectively. <br /> c. The annual nurse or cover crop shall be applied at a rate of 20 pounds per acre. <br />