Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 310 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Title 310 CMR 10.00 - Wetlands Protection › Additional Regulations for Inland Wetlands › Section 10.55 - Bordering Vegetated Wetlands (Wet Meadows, Marshes, Swamps and Bogs)

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
Preamble.
Bordering Vegetated Wetlands are likely to be significant to public or private
				water supply, to ground water supply, to flood control, to storm damage
				prevention, to prevention of pollution, to the protection of fisheries and to
				wildlife habitat.
The plants and soils of Bordering Vegetated Wetlands remove
				  or detain sediments, nutrients (such as nitrogen and phosphorous) and toxic
				  substances (such as heavy metal compounds) that occur in run-off and flood
				  waters.
Some nutrients and toxic substances are detained for years in
				  plant root systems or in the soils. Others are held by plants during the
				  growing season and released as the plants decay in the fall and winter. This
				  latter phenomenon delays the impacts of nutrients and toxins until the cold
				  weather period, when such impacts are less likely to reduce water
				  quality.
Bordering Vegetated Wetlands are areas where ground water
				  discharges to the surface and where, under some circumstances, surface water
				  discharges to the ground water.
The profusion of vegetation in Bordering Vegetated Wetlands
				  acts to slow down and reduce the passage of flood waters during periods of peak
				  flows by providing temporary flood water storage and by facilitating water
				  removal through evaporation and transpiration. This process reduces downstream
				  flood crests and resulting damage to private and public property. During dry
				  periods the water retained in Bordering Vegetated Wetlands is essential to the
				  maintenance of base flow levels in rivers and streams, which in turn is
				  important to the protection of water quality and water supplies.
The Act defines freshwater wetlands by hydrology and
				  vegetation. Hydrology is the driving force which creates wetlands, but it is a
				  transient, temporal parameter. The presence of water at or near the ground
				  surface during a significant portion of the year supports, and in fact
				  promotes, the growth of wetland indicator plants. Prolonged or frequent
				  saturation or inundation also produces hydric soils, and creates anaerobic
				  conditions that favor the growth of wetland indicator plants. Hydric soils are
				  direct indicators of long-term hydrologic conditions and are present throughout
				  the year.
Wetland vegetation supports a wide variety of insects,
				  reptiles, amphibians, small mammals and birds which are a source of food for
				  important game fish. Bluegills (Lepomis macrochirus), pumpkinseeds (Lepomis
				  gibbosus), yellow perch (Perca flavescens), rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris)
				  and all trout species feed upon nonaquatic insects. Large-mouth bass
				  (Micropterus salmoides), chain pickerel (Esox niger) and northern pike (Esox
				  lucius) feed upon small mammals, snakes, nonaquatic insects, birds and
				  amphibians.
Wetland vegetation provides shade which moderates water
				  temperatures important to fish life. Wetlands flooded by adjacent water bodies
				  and waterways provide food, breeding habitat and cover for fish. Fish
				  populations in the larval stage are particularly dependent upon food provided
				  by over-bank flooding which occurs during peak flow periods (extreme storms)
				  because most river and stream channels do not provide sufficient quantities of
				  the microscopic plant and animal life required for food.
Bordering vegetated wetlands are probably the Commonwealth's
				  most important inland habitat for wildlife. The hydrologic regime, plant
				  community composition and structure, soil composition and structure,
				  topography, and water chemistry of bordering vegetated wetlands provide
				  important food, shelter, migratory and overwintering areas, and breeding areas
				  for many birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles. A wide variety of vegetated
				  wetland plants, the nature of which are determined in large part by the depth
				  and duration of water, as well as soil and water composition, are utilized by
				  varied species as important areas for mating, nesting, brood rearing, shelter
				  and food (directly and indirectly). The diversity and interspersion of the
				  vegetative structure is also important in determining the nature of its
				  wildlife habitat. Different habitat characteristics are used by different
				  wildlife species during summer, winter and migratory seasons.
Although the vegetational community can often be analyzed to
				  establish an accurate wetland boundary, sole reliance on the presence of
				  wetland indicator plants can be misleading because some species thrive in both
				  uplands and wetlands. Gently sloping areas often produce large transitional
				  zones where the vegetational boundary is difficult to delineate. Hydrology can
				  supplement vegetative criteria to enhance the technical accuracy, consistency,
				  and credibility of wetland boundary delineations, and are especially useful for
				  analyzing disturbed sites.
(2)
Definition, Critical
				Characteristics and Boundary
.
(a)
				Bordering Vegetated Wetlands are freshwater wetlands which border on creeks,
				rivers, streams, ponds and lakes. The types of freshwater wetlands are wet
				meadows, marshes, swamps and bogs. Bordering Vegetated Wetlands are areas where
				the soils are saturated and/or inundated such that they support a predominance
				of wetland indicator plants. The ground and surface water regime and the
				vegetational community which occur in each type of freshwater wetland are
				specified in M.G.L. c. 131, § 40.
(b) The physical characteristics of Bordering
				Vegetated Wetlands, as described in 310 CMR 10.55(2)(a), are critical to the
				protection of the interests specified in 310 CMR 10.55(1).
(c) The boundary of Bordering Vegetated
				Wetlands is the line within which 50% or more of the vegetational community
				consists of wetland indicator plants and saturated or inundated conditions
				exist. Wetland indicator plants shall include but not necessarily be limited to
				those plant species identified in the Act. Wetland indicator plants are also
				those classified in the indicator categories of Facultative, Facultative+,
				Facultative Wetland-, Facultative Wetland, Facultative Wetland+, or Obligate
				Wetland in the National List of Plant Species That Occur in Wetlands:
				Massachusetts (Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior,
				1988) or plants exhibiting physiological or morphological adaptations to life
				in saturated or inundated conditions.
1. Areas
				containing a predominance of wetland indicator plants are presumed to indicate
				the presence of saturated or inundated conditions. Therefore, the boundary as
				determined by 50% or more wetland indicator plants shall be presumed accurate
				when:
a. all dominant species have an
				indicator status of obligate, facultative wetland+, facultative wetland, or
				facultative wetland- and the slope is distinct or abrupt between the upland
				plant community and the wetland plant community;
b. the area where the work will occur is
				clearly limited to the buffer zone; or
c. the issuing authority determines that sole
				reliance on wetland indicator plants will yield an accurate
				delineation.
2. When the
				boundary is not presumed accurate as described in 310 CMR 10.55(2)(c)1.a.
				through c. or to overcome the presumption, credible evidence shall be submitted
				by a competent source demonstrating that the boundary of Bordering Vegetated
				Wetlands is the line within which 50% or more of the vegetational community
				consists of wetland indicator plants and saturated or inundated conditions
				exist. The issuing authority must evaluate vegetation and indicators of
				saturated or inundated conditions if submitted by a credible source, or may
				require credible evidence of saturated or inundated conditions when determining
				the boundary. Indicators of saturated or inundated conditions sufficient to
				support wetland indicator plants shall include one or more of the following:
a. groundwater, including the capillary
				fringe, within a major portion of the root zone;
b. observation of prolonged or frequent
				flowing or standing surface water;
c. characteristics of hydric soils.
3. Where an area has been
				disturbed (e.g. by cutting, filling, or cultivation), the boundary is the line
				within which there are indicators of saturated or inundated conditions
				sufficient to support a predominance of wetland indicator plants, a
				predominance of wetland indicator plants, or credible evidence from a competent
				source that the area supported or would support under undisturbed conditions a
				predominance of wetland indicator plants prior to the
				disturbance.