If you are unsure whether your proposed work site is in a resource area or whether the work will alter a resource area, you can apply for a Request for Determination of Applicability. If you want to work in a wetland resource area or within 100 feet of a wetland (an area called the buffer zone), contact the conservation commission before you start work. The law regulates many types of work in resource areas, including vegetation removal, regrading, and construction of houses, additions, decks, driveways, and commercial or industrial buildings. This information helps landowners and developers plan their work and helps commissions apply the law to specific projects. The regulations also spell out the type and extent of work allowed in resource areas. The regulations describe how each type of resource area provides one or more of the public interests. The conservation commission ensures that proposed activities will not alter resource areas and the public interests they provide by reviewing projects on a case-by-case basis according to regulations. MassDEP also hears appeals of decisions made by commissions.

MassDEP develops regulations and policies, and provides technical training to commissions. On the state level, the Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) oversees administration of the law. The commission is a volunteer board of three to seven members appointed by the selectmen or city council. The law protects not only wetlands, but other resource areas, such as land subject to flooding (100-year floodplains), the riverfront area (added by the Rivers Protection Act), and land under water bodies, waterways, salt ponds, fish runs, and the ocean.Īt the local level, the community's conservation commission administers the Wetlands Protection Act. These public interests are protected by requiring a careful review of proposed work that may alter wetlands. The Wetlands Protection Act (Massachusetts General Laws (MGL) Chapter 131, Section 40) protects wetlands and the public interests they serve, including flood control, prevention of pollution and storm damage, and protection of public and private water supplies, groundwater supply, fisheries, land containing shellfish, and wildlife habitat. Today, wetlands are protected by state and federal laws. Concerned about the loss of wetlands, Massachusetts adopted the nation's first wetlands protection laws in the early 1960s. Since Colonial times, almost one third of Massachusetts' wetlands have been destroyed. While we now recognize the benefits of wetlands, that recognition has come late. Inland wetlands include marshes, wet meadows, bogs, and swamps. Although these wetlands can appear dry during some seasons, they contain enough water to support certain plants and soils.

Inland wetlands are areas where water is at or just below the surface of the ground. What are wetlands? Coastal wetlands are directly adjacent to the ocean and include beaches, salt marshes, dunes, coastal banks, rocky intertidal shores, and barrier beaches. Wetlands help clean drinking water supplies, prevent flooding and storm damage, and support a variety of wildlife. Wetlands are found throughout the state, from the Atlantic coast to the Berkshires.

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