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Minnesota <br />Board of <br />Water & Soil <br />Resources <br />Buffer Law Implementation: <br />Failure to Implement Policy <br />December 16, 2015 <br />Background. <br />Mn Statutes 103F.48 establishes a requirement for landowners to maintain a buffer as follows: <br />■ November 1, 2017 — buffers must be in place on lands adjacent to public waters as identified and mapped on <br />a buffer protection map (Subd. 3(e)(1)) <br />■ November 1, 2018 — buffers must be in place on lands adjacent to ditches within the benefitted area of <br />public drainage systems as identified and mapped on a buffer protection map (Subd. 3(e)(2)) <br />This law also includes new enforcement authorities to address potential landowner noncompliance and local <br />government failure to implement. One such provision is: <br />Minnesota Statutes 103F.48 <br />Subd. 8. Funding subject to withholding. The state may withhold funding from a local water <br />management authority or a soil and water conservation district that fails to implement this section. <br />Funding subject to withholding includes soil and water program aid, a natural resources block grant, and <br />other project or program funding. Funding may be restored upon the board's approval of a corrective <br />action plan. <br />Key questions regarding this statutory language that need policy guidance include: <br />1. What does failure to implement mean? <br />2. What state funding is subject to withholding under the law? <br />3. What process will BWSR use to determine failure to implement? <br />4. Will there be an appeal process? <br />This policy will only address question #1, that being to define failure to implement and/or non -implementation. <br />Questions 2-4, and related programmatic issues and details will be addressed through subsequent BWSR Board policy <br />and guidance. <br />Discussion. <br />Minnesota Statutes 103F.48, Subd. 8 applies to soil and water conservation districts (SWCD) and local water <br />management authorities. Local water management authority is defined as (Minn. Stat. 103F.48, Subd 2(g)): a <br />watershed district, metropolitan water management organization, or county operating separately or jointly in its role <br />as a local water management authority under chapter 103B or 103D. Therefore the local governments that Subd. 8 <br />applies to are: SWCDs, counties, watershed districts, and metropolitan watershed management organizations. <br />Minnesota Statutes 103F.48 establishes the following authorities for local governments: <br />