A friend passed along a copy of the Blue Earth Soil and Water Conservation District's Buffer Report, dated January 11, 2018, which we embed below.
The source noted that under the leadership of two Republican county commissioners, Blue Earth County had chosen to observe the statutes on the books even before Dayton and the legislature sought to put some teeth into enforcement--and that this effort had not been traumatic for area farmers. The source and his wife are farm property owners in Blue Earth County.
The source--a voter in House District 23B --noted that the success documented in the report ran counter to the talking points uttered by DFL candidate Melissa Wagner, to the point that he wondered who in the party campaign apparatus thought it was a good idea for the candidate to utter a talking point, rather than to talk about the successful buffer law implementation that rural values of cooperation had in fact created in one county in the district.
Instead, Wagner told Trey Mewes at the Mankato Free Press in Wagner sees rural values as key in 23B:
To that end, she believes the state needs to take a closer look at rural regulations and funding. Wagner has heard from farmers who are still upset over recent regulations to put vegetative buffer strips of land near public and private waterways. She doesn't necessarily disagree with buffer strips, but she believes the state should review the practice more thoroughly and do a better job of explaining the research behind the policy.
"It may make common sense, but is it really effective?" Wagner said. "We need to make sure that we’re allowing farmers to farm all of their land as much as possible, but also making sure that we’re doing what is best for our water."
A little local research about the local successful implementation of buffer laws (and the example of bipartisan cooperation it provides) might have helped Wagner avoid the failed DFL strategy of running as a Republican Lite in rural areas. It's been a failed strategy in 2014 and 2016--and doesn't seem to get far this year either.
Here's the document:
Blue Earth County Soil and Water Conservation District Buffer Report 1/11/2018 by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd
Photo: A buffered ditch. Via the Blue Earth County Soil and Water Conservation District.
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