The Bear Creek saturated buffer, in central Iowa, is a private collaborator site with research by USDA-ARS. The field falls more than 23 vertical feet down this 66 ft. wide, 3-stage buffer established with switchgrass, shrub-grass mix, and silver maple. Tile drainage is intercepted at the field edge and then distributed laterally along the buffer through shallow subsurface tiles. Water then infiltrates into the soil below the vegetated buffer and slowly filters through the soil to the adjacent waterway.