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South Dakota lawmakers pass conservation measure

South Dakota lawmakers have approved a measure that provides incentives for farmers to maintain riparian buffer-strips between agriculture land and waterways.  The goal is to reduce agriculture run-off that reaches waterways. The bill, proposed by Governor Dennis Daugaard, provides for property tax breaks for land turned into vegetative buffer strips that trap crop protection chemicals and sediment before they reach water. The proposal allows for the buffers along 575 lakes and roughly 11,000 miles of streams in South Dakota. The total tax revenue impact would be $1.2 million.