The Mower County Soil and Water Conservation District is looking to help farmers adapt to refocused rules on shoreland buffers between state streams and agricultural land.

On Tuesday, the county board unanimously backed Resource Specialist Justin Hanson and the SWCD’s plan to submit a $363,000 grant proposal to fund an education-centered approach toward bringing the county into compliance on a state requirement to have a 50-foot shoreland buffer, or a vegetative boundary, between Minnesota Department of Natural Resources-designated waterways and farmland.

Though the buffer rules have been in effect since the 1980s, they’ve been loosely enforced.

“For many years, many counties in the state haven’t been pushing forward with that because the amount of work that it would take to go back and address the problem that’s out there,” Hanson said.

Now Gov. Mark Dayton’s office is leading a charge to increase enforcement and compliance with the laws, but many counties don’t have enough staff to address the issue.

“The resources haven’t been in place to go out and do the compliance work that’s necessary to get our entire county up to speed,” Hanson said.

Dayton is making about $1 million in grant funding available, and Hanson said the funding is open-ended, meaning there aren’t many stipulations on the funds and counties can design their own programs. Hanson and the SWCD is working on a proactive program that would focus on educating farmers on shoreland buffers and help them come into compliance.

First, the county would use geographic information systems or GIS mapping to research all the areas in the county that aren’t compliant. Then staff will meet with farmers to educate them on how they can address the issues. In most cases, farmers can enroll in government farm programs that include offsets and rental rates, so farmers aren’t just giving up land.

The county won’t ramp up enforcement until after its educational efforts.

“We think this is a much more farmer-friendly way of doing it,” Hanson said.

Through the educational approach, Hanson estimated the county would get about 90 percent of the noncompliant landowners into compliance.

Hanson was optimistic about the county’s chances at receiving grant funding either now or in the future.

“I think we’re in a really good position,” Hanson said.

The grant includes money for a technician, a GIS intern, a GIS specialist, and for county attorney fees.