Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 321 CMR - DIVISION OF FISHERIES AND WILDLIFE › Title 321 CMR 10.00 - Massachusetts Endangered Species Act › Part II - Delineation of Priority Habitat and Review of Projects or Activities within Priority Habitat › Section 10.12 - Delineation of Priority Habitat of State-listed Species

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1) Priority Habitats are used for screening
				Projects and Activities that may result in the Take of State-listed Species and
				to provide guidance to Record Owners regarding a Project or Activity through
				consultation with the Division. Priority Habitats shall be delineated based on
				the Best Scientific Evidence Available.
(2) The delineation of Priority Habitat by
				the Division for all State-listed Species shall be based on the Best Scientific
				Evidence Available and shall include examination of individual occurrence
				records in the context of species listing status, and shall apply the following
				criteria: the nature and/or significance of the occurrence as it relates to the
				conservation and protection of the species, including but not limited to,
				evidence of breeding, persistence, life stages present, number of individuals,
				extent of necessary supporting habitat, and proximity to other
				occurrences.
(3) For each species,
				habitat mapping guidelines will be prepared that identify the important habitat
				features, and that describe the methodology by which Priority Habitats are
				delineated.
(4) Where the
				delineation will extend to areas previously disturbed by Projects or
				Activities, the delineation shall to the maximum extent feasible and consistent
				with the Best Scientific Evidence Available and to the extent those areas no
				longer provide important habitat features for State-listed Species, exclude any
				such disturbed areas from the delineated Priority Habitat. The Division also
				reserves the right not to delineate an area as Priority Habitat with occurrence
				records of State-listed Species of Special Concern or, in exceptional
				circumstances, State-listed Endangered or Threatened Species, based on factors
				such as the listing status of the species, the known population status of the
				species or the quality of habitat, or the existence of a Conservation Plan for
				a State-listed Species of Special Concern issued by the Division pursuant to
				321
				CMR 10.26
(5) In the delineation of Priority Habitat
				and the selection of occurrence records to be included in Priority Habitat
				mapping, the Division shall take into consideration the listing status of
				individual species and use a methodology that draws clear distinctions between
				State-listed Species based on the relative threat of extinction or extirpation
				for each of those classifications. The Division will develop guidelines and
				criteria for the acceptance and inclusion of occurrence records into the NHESP
				data base.
(6)
Division
				Updates to the Priority Habitat Map
.
(a) The delineation of Priority Habitat will
				be re-evaluated every four years by the Division. The current Priority Habitat
				map issued by the Division in October, 2008 shall remain in effect through
				calendar year 2011, or until such time as a new Priority Habitat map is issued
				by the Division. The Successor Priority Habitat maps will be on a four calendar
				year cycle. Revisions or updates to the Priority Habitat map are generally the
				result of the Division's consideration of factors such as:
1. the Division's re-evaluation of the
				existing basis for a delineation, including whether there have been relevant
				changes to the Best Scientific Evidence Available;
2. any revised delineation made by the
				Division in the preceding four years in response to a request for
				reconsideration pursuant to 321 CMR 10.12(8) or as the result of a final
				adjudicatory or final judicial appeal;
3. the existence of any new occurrence
				records contained in the NHESP data base or any occurrence records observed
				more than 25 years prior to delineation, which, because of their age, are no
				longer used to delineate Priority Habitats, but are retained in the NHESP data
				base for historical purposes;
4.
				the extent to which an existing or potential delineation includes areas
				previously disturbed by Projects or Activities; or
5. a change made by the Division to the
				listing status of a species; and
6.
				upon the issuance of any Conservation Plan for a State-listed Species of
				Special Concern by the Division pursuant to
				321
				CMR 10.26, the subsequent updated Priority
				Habitat maps, beginning with the Natural Heritage Atlas, 15th Edition, will not
				include the delineation of new Priority Habitat outside of the conservation
				protection zones established in the Conservation Plan for that
				species.