Conclusions
Our results herein clearly indicate that the initiation of different
buffer strip vegetation treatments can disturb soils and negate sediment
trapping efficacy initially. This should be borne in mind, especially
when communicating early impacts to land managers. Thereafter, the grass
treatment matured faster than the willow and deciduous woodland
treatments for reducing sediment loss. Regardless of this timeline, all
three vegetation treatments delivered some capacity for reducing
sediment loss and our results provide new evidence for farmers,
catchment managers and policy teams. Clearly, our results in this paper
only report reductions in sediment loss delivered by the different
buffer strip treatments, but positive impacts on additional priority
pollutants for the agricultural sector, including nutrients and
pesticides are likely.