Step inside this silver maple stand. Notice that there are no understory plants covering the soil. The silver maple provides such dense shade that nothing grows below it.

Such dense shade sets the site up for surface erosion from flood waters.A less dense planting should be used to encourage understory and especially grass growth.

This planting was going to be used originally to show the possibilities of biomass production in riparian buffers. Since then we have changed gears, focusing more on environmental and social benefits of riparian buffers.