Landowners in South Dakota did not rush into a new program that gives tax breaks to land set aside as buffer strips near rivers and lakes.
The state Department of Revenue says just under three hundred acres were enrolled in the program that was authorized by last year’s legislature.

Jay Gilbertson, Manager of the East Dakota Water Development District in Brookings, says it was a lukewarm response…..

Gilbertson says there was no push to get landowners involved…..

Gilbertson says a number of owners are already doing the right things with their land…..

Landowners could get a forty percent tax reduction on land they enroll in the buffer strip program.