Wider riparian buffers deliver greater benefits and ecosystem services.  Buffer width typically depends on the characteristics of the property, including adjacent land use, slope, soil type, and other factors.  The width of the riparian buffer may also depend on its desired function – narrower buffers may be adequate for bank stabilization and stream shading, while wider buffers are required for filtering nutrients and providing wildlife habitat. 

Livestock with open access to waterways will trample and erode stream bottoms, banks, and vegetation, increasing sediment erosion, nutrient runoff, and water temperature.  Concentrated animal waste contributes directly to nutrient pollution and high bacteria counts.  Livestock exclusion practices that include fencing, alternative water sources, and establishment of vegetated buffers provide extensive benefits to livestock wellbeing, productivity, stream health, and the integrity of adjacent farmland. 

_{Photo: Chesapeake Bay Program}