Backyard Stream Repair Kit

Stream with Chinese Privet Streambank

This project is funded by a grant from the USDA-NIFA Southern Region Water Program and is a partnership among Cooperative Extension programs across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina. This grant aims to develop a streamside buffer repair kit that can be used to teach both Extension professionals and homeowners about the benefits streamside vegetation buffers.

A vegetated buffer can aid in reducing erosion through soil strengthening by plant roots and by holding soil in place. Native vegetation growing on a streambank reduces nonpoint source pollution associated with overland flow by creating roughness to allow suspended solids to settle out before entering the stream. Enhancing streamside buffers through the use of live stakes, bare root seedlins, and container plants can reduce pollutant loads enetering a stream.

Here you can find resources such as native plant lists for each state, native plant nursery list by state, and other helpful information to answer questions relating to small-scale stream erosion that can benefit from the introduction of native vegetation.