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August 22, 2011 <br /> 460 East Long Lake Road <br /> Page 2 of 4 <br /> Sec.78-1605.Wetland buffer areas. <br /> (a) This subsection establishes requirements for wetland buffer areas around protected wetlands. . <br /> Buffer areas are necessary and beneficial to maintain the health of wetlands. Buffer areas protect <br /> 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 <br /> wetland 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 wetland <br /> edge, and that occur in a natural condition or through resto�ation. Buffer areas consist of <br /> shrubbery and trees, native grasses and/or forbs that are not mowed, fertilized or manicured in <br /> any manner. Mowing, fertilizing, manicuring, or vegetation removal within a buffer area is not <br /> allowed unless the city has issued a permit for such activity in conjunction with an approved <br /> 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 <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 thatch or duff, or <br /> c. Topography which tends to channelize the flow of surface 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 /> d. Native shrubs and or trees may be used in addition to forbs and grasses. Shrubs <br /> shall be distributed so as to provide a natural appearance and shall not be <br /> planted in rows. <br /> e. Native prairie grasses and forbs shall be planted by a qualified contractor. <br /> f. No fertilizer shall be used in establishing new buffer zones, except on highly <br /> disturbed sites when deemed necessary to establish acceptable buffer <br /> vegetation and then limited to amounts indicated by an accredited soil testing <br /> _ laboratory. <br /> g. All seeded areas shall be mulched immediately with clean straw at a rate of one <br /> and one-half tons per acre. Mulch shall be anchored with a disk or tackifier. <br /> � h. Buffer areas (both natural and created), shall be protected by silt fence during <br /> construction and the fence shall remain in place until the area crop is <br /> estabtished, and at that time the fence shall be removed. <br />