#UNDISTURBED STREAM BUFFER CODE#

The Conservation Commission finds that the uniform provision of an undisturbed buffer zone width of 50’ will serve to insulate wetland resource areas from adverse impacts stemming from development elsewhere in the buffer zone. Minimum buffer zone widths as mandated by other Northeast states for areas of critical environmental concern range from 200 ft. Projects proposed for prohibition within the buffer zone include both non-water-dependent activities (building construction, sewage disposal systems) and water-dependent activities (bulkheads, revetments) (Brady and Buchsbaum, 1989). The Massachusetts Audubon Society has recommended the imposition of 300 foot wide natural undisturbed buffers in those areas that directly abut critical resource areas. A reasonable hedge against the cumulative impact is the ascription of a flanking undisturbed buffer of suitable width… Thus, techniques employed for individual permit review are not robust enough to resolve potential significant cumulative impacts, even though it may be clear that the collective impact of many such proposals could adversely affect or imperil a wetland resource area. site disturbance) are difficult to measure on the scale of cumulative impacts (i.e. While Chapter 237 provides that the Commission may deny any project which will have a significant cumulative effect on a wetland or its values, our permit-level activities (i.e. Cumulative effects result from individually minor but collectively significant actions taking place over a period of time (Council on Environmental Quality, 1978).

#UNDISTURBED STREAM BUFFER CODE#

Put another way, similar habitats provide, a gradual transition zone that is not as inhospitable as an abrupt habitat “edge” (Harris, 1984b)…Ĭumulative effects are defined and discussed in Chapter 237, Wetlands Protection, of the General Ordinances of the Code of the Town of Barnstable. The transitional assemblage of trees, shrubs and groundcover (containing both wetland and upland elements) frequently found in buffer zones has been found significant to the support of a greater number of native and specialist wildlife species in the interior of resource areas which they border. Surface runoff from developed sites carries a diverse and potent pollution load: hydrocarbons, lawn chemicals, metals, bacteria, and viruses are common constituents (Diamond and Nilson, 1988)… Nutrients are by no means the only pollutant which may degrade wetland resource areas. Water quality, it was demonstrated, can be better maintained if protective buffer strips are preserved along stream edges.Īs surface runoff from developed sites flows toward a wetland resource area, the buffer zone can provide a site where eroded sediments settle, where nutrients from fertilizers are adsorbed onto soil elements, and where transition zone vegetation can uptake unbound nutrients preventing nuisance algal blooms in adjacent waters (Harris and Gosselink, 1989). Omernik (1977) thoroughly documented the dramatic increase in nitrogen and phosphorous loading to wetlands and waterbodies as their adjacent watersheds are cleared. The role that a protective buffer zone plays in the maintenance of viable wetland resource areas has been frequently discussed in the scientific literature. These regulations notwithstanding, the Conservation Commission will consider any and all proposals for activity within the buffer zone on a site specific basis, disposing of each according to its merit and the degree to which wetland interests have been protected and preserved at the locus…

This regulation shall not be construed to preclude access paths, vista pruning or construction of water-dependent structures within the buffer zone, any of which may be permitted at the Commission’s discretion. exists, work proposed anywhere within Conservation Commission jurisdiction at a site shall be subject to mitigation planting requirements aimed at enhancing the dimensions of the buffer and the suitability of its vegetation. Where an undisturbed buffer zone of less than 50 ft. jurisdictional zone shall not require further buffer zone enhancement. undisturbed buffer zone exists and is proposed to remain intact, a presumption shall be extended that approved work within the 50-100 ft. It is recommended that proposed structures within the buffer zone be located no closer than 20’ from the landward limit of the buffer, so that attendant construction, landscaping, and maintenance activities may ensue without buffer zone insult. in width shall be provided between wetland resource areas and the limit of site disturbance. Barnstable is another Massachusetts community that emphasizes the importance of a 50-foot undisturbed zone around wetlands.

Undisturbed stream buffer