HOUSE No. 6261

Substituted by the House, on motion of Mr. Sprague of Sberbom, for a bill with the same title (House, No. 5848). June 11.

Wi je Commontocalti) of ifla£gacinioett£

In the Year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy-Four.

An Act denning and further regulating the PROTECTION THEREOF.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1 SECTION 1. The first paragraph of section 40 of chapter 2 131 of the General Laws, as appearing in section 1 of chapter 3 784 of the acts of 1 972, is hereby amended by inserting after the

4 word “bank”, in line 1, the words: , fresh water wetlands, 5 coastal wetlands.

1 SECTION 2. Said section 40 of said chapter 131 is hereby 2 further amended by inserting after the first paragraph the

3 following six paragraphs; - 4 As used in this section, the term “Coastal Wetlands” shall 5 mean any bank, marsh, swamp, meadow, fiat or other lowland 6 subject to tidal action or coastal storm flowage. 7 As used in this section, the term “freshwater wetlands” shall 8 mean wet meadows, marshes, swamps, bogs, areas where ground- -9 water, flowing or standing surface water or ice provide a 10 significant part of the supporting substrate for a comnui- -11 nity for at least five months of the year; emergent and 12 submergent plant communities in inland waters; that portion of 13 any bank which touches any inland waters. 14 Wet Meadows are places where ground water shall be at the tor 15 surface a significant part of the growing season and near the 2 HOUSE-No 6261 [June

16 surface throughout the year and where a significant part of the 17 vegetational community shall be composed of various grasses, 18 sedges and rushes; made up of, but not limited to nor necessarily 19 including all, of the following or groups of plants; blue (lag 20 (Iris), blue vervain (Verbena), boneset (Eupatorium), dock 21 (Rumex), false loosestrife (Ludwigia), hydrophilic grasses (Gram- -22 ineae), joe-pye-weed (Eupatorium dubium), loosestrife (Lysi- -23 machia), marsh fern (Dryopteris thelypteris), purple loosestrife 24 (Lythrum), rushes (), sedges (), sensitive p 25 fern (Onoclea sensibilis), smartweed (Polygonum). 26 Marshes are places where a vegetational community shall exist 27 in standing or running water during the growing season and shall 28 be made up of one or more, but not limited to nor necessarily 29 including all, of the following plants or groups of plants: arums 30 (Araceae), bladder worts (Utricularia), bur reeds (Sparganiaceae), 31 button bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), cattails (Typha), duck- -32 weeds (Lemnaceae), eelgrass (Vallisneria), frog bits (Hydro- -33 charitaceae), horsetails and scouring rushes (Equisetaceae), 34 hydrophilic grasses (Gramineae), leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne 35 calyculata), pickerel weeds (Pontederiaceae), pipeworts 36 (Eriocaulon), pond weeds (Potamogeton), rushes (Juncaceae), 37 sedges (Cyperaceae), smartweeds (Polygonaceae), sweet gale 38 (Myrica gale), water milfoil (Haloragaceae), water lilies (Nym- -39 pheaceae), water starworts (Callitrichaceae), water willow 40 (Decodon verticillatus). 41 Swamps arc places where ground water shall be at or near the 42 surface of the ground for a significant part of the growing season 43 or where runoff water from surface drainage shall frequently 44 collect above the soil surface, and where a vegetational commu- -45 nity shall be made up of, but not limited to nor necessarily 46 include all of the following plants or groups of plants: alders 47 (Alnus), ashes (Fraxinus), azaleas (Rhododendron canadense and 48 R. viscosum), black alder (Ilex verticillata), black spruce (Picea 49 mariana), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), elm (Ulmus 50 americana), hellebore (Veratrum Viride), hemlock (Tsuga cana- -51 densis), highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), larch 52 (Larix laricina), marsh marigold (Caltha palustris), poison sumac 53 (Toxicodendron vernix), red maple (Acer rubrum), skunk cab- -54 bage (Symplocarpus foetidus), sphagnum mosses (Sphagnum), 1974] HOUSE - No. 6261 3

54 spicebush (Lindera benzoin), tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), white 55 alder (Clethra alnifolia), white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides), 56 willow (Salicaceae). 57 Bogs are places where standing or slowly running water shall 58 be near or at the surface during a normal growing season and 59 where a vegetational community shall have a significant portion 60 of the ground or water surface covered with sphagnum moss (Sphagnum) and where the vegetational community shall be t 61 62 made up of a significant portion of one or more of. but not 63 limited to nor necessarily including all, of the following plants or 64 groups of plants; aster (Aster nemoralis), azaleas (Rhododendron 65 (canadense and R. viscosum), black spruce (Picea mariana), bog 66 cotton (Eriophorum), cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon), high- 67 bush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), larch (Larix laricina), 68 laurels (Kalmia angustifolia and K, poli folia), leatherleaf 69 (Chamaedaphne calyculata), orchids (Arethusa, Calopogon, 70 Pogonia), pitcher plants (Sarracenia purpurea), sedges (Cyper- 71 aceae), sundews (Droseraceae), sweet gale (Myrica gale), white 72 cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides).

1 SECTION 3. Said section 40 of said chapter 131 is hereby 2 further amended by striking out the eleventh paragraph.

1 SECTION 4. The first paragraph of section 40A of said 2 chapter 131, as appearing in chapter 782 of the acts of 1972, is 3 hereby amended by striking out the second sentence and

4 inserting in place thereof the following sentence: - In this 5 section, the term “inland wetlands” shall include the definitions 6 of “freshwater wetlands”, as set forth in section forty, and it 7 shall further include that portion of any bank which touches any 8 inland waters or any freshwater , and any freshwater 9 wetland subject to flooding.

1 SECTION 5. Said chapter 131 is hereby further amended by 2 inserting after section 40A the following section: 3 Section 408. The provisions of section forty shall not apply 4 to any mosquito control work done under the provisions of 5 either clause (36) of section five of chapter forty, of chapter two 6 hundred and fifty-two or of any special act; or to maintenance of 7 drainage and flooding systems of cranberry bogs.

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