Ohio Lake Erie Buffer Initiative- Final Report
  Strategic Plan Overview

STRATEGIC PLAN DEVELOPMENT

The Ohio Lake Erie Buffer Team Initiative’s first major action was to develop a Strategic Plan. This plan would map out the team’s objectives. The team members developed a list of objectives that needed to be completed through the Ohio Lake Erie Buffer Program. Action items were developed for each objective and responsibilities were assigned to team members to provide leadership to achieve these actions. Many, if not all of the actions, were completed successfully within each objective.

The plan provided resources to control non-point pollutants at their source. Many of the pollutants entering the lake originate as rainfall runoff from both farm fields and urban land. Even though most farmers do a good job of controlling runoff, the high concentration of agricultural land in the watershed means the cumulative effect of just a small amount of soil erosion.

In addition to providing pollution control benefits, the buffer practices will benefit individual farmers by making it easier and more efficient to farm many fields, and reduce the costs of maintaining drainage channels. The plan recognized that not all non-point pollution originates from agricultural land, and contained provisions for an urban buffer component to address non-point pollution from urban and suburban sources.

The plan focused on resources toward a common goal of maximizing the acres of conservation buffers that are installed and create milestones to measure success. A key component of the plan was to help provide marketing resources that county and area natural resource professionals can use to educate landowners and the public on the proper installation and benefits of buffers.

The complete Strategic Plan is found online at the Buffer Program Website:

http://www.oh.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/Lake_Erie_Buffer/

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STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

The objectives of Ohio’s Lake Erie Buffer Team’s Strategic Plan include the following 10 strategic elements:

1. Market the agricultural, environmental and financial benefits of installing filter strips, forest buffers, windbreaks and wetland restorations on Ohio farms.
2. Develop long-term strategies to increase the potential of Ohio’s conservation buffers to be profitable and self-sustaining practices.
3. Obtain additional field level technical assistance to increase services available to help landowners install conservation buffer practices in the Lake Erie watershed.
4. Launch a recognition program promoting awareness of conservation buffer accomplishments within the Lake Erie watershed and honoring individuals and organizations contributing to the Ohio Lake Erie Buffer Program’s success.
5. Encourage city, county and regional groups to implement buffer projects in their respective jurisdictions, providing the buffer team’s resources to support their efforts.
6. Seek out members of the agri-business community to promote the benefits on conservation buffer systems to their respective customers.
7. Develop effective strategies to initiate the widespread use of urban conservation buffer practices throughout the Lake Erie basin.
8. Provide administration, coordination and assistance in order to ensure the Ohio Lake Erie Buffer Program monies are utilized in the most fiscally responsible and beneficial way.
9. Demonstrate innovative conservation buffer practices available to Ohio farms and create partnerships between public and private organizations to help apply these practices throughout the Lake Erie watershed.
10. Monitor Ohio’s Lake Erie conservation buffer progress and assess the benefits of widespread buffer installation throughout the Lake Erie watershed.

Ohio Lake Erie Buffer Initiative FINAL REPORT- March 2004

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