buffer workshop
Buffers are an important tool in helping to protect water quality. A buffer is a vegetated area along a shoreline, wetland, or stream where development is restricted or prohibited.
The primary function of a buffer is to physically protect and separate a stream, lake, or wetland from future disturbance or encroachment.
All buffers are important and they are the first line of defense against the impacts of impervious surfaces, nutrients, and erosion. Buffers are especially critical in developed areas.
GRANIT Buffer Mapper
UNH Complex Systems Research Center has developed a shoreline buffer theme for the GRANIT Data Mapper; an online data viewing and query tool. Maps can be made displaying shoreline buffers in increments which include: 50’, 100’, 150’, 200’, 250’ and 300’. The buffers will be available as an overlay to any of the standard base features incorporated in the Data Mapper, including aerial imagery, town bounds, surface water features, road centerlines, watershed boundaries, and elevation/hillshade. There is also online access to supporting summary tables providing acreage, by town, for the selected buffer option, and the ability to include/exclude intermittent streams in the buffer display and the supporting tables.
Community Outreach and Education
The PREP can help your town learn about buffers, their importance, and what your town can do to protect them. We offer a variety of options, anything from a 20 minute introductory presentation to a full fledged workshop. These presentations and/or workshops are free of charge.
For more information or to schedule a workshop please contact Dave Kellam. You can also download a buffer program flyer or the same information in a brochure format.
Buffer Characterization Maps
The Complex Systems Research Center (CSRC) at the University of New Hampshire conducted a characterization of the buffers around 2nd order and higher streams within the Piscataqua/Coastal Basin of New Hampshire. GIS and remote sensing data archived in the NH GRANIT database were used to map land use, impervious surface coverage, and transportation infrastructure within standard buffers around each stream segment. These factors were then analyzed to produce a categorical indicator representing the status of each stream. The results are presented on community-based maps displaying stream characterizations and the corresponding acreage tables. In addition, the data have been made available as digital data layers archived in the GRANIT database.
To access digital data layers go to GRANIT. To receive a hard copy of your towns map please contact Dave Kellam.
Other Resources
