Four Vermont wetlands are under review to receive protection as “Class I” wetlands, which would more than double the number of plots granted this protected status.
The Agency of Natural Resources has proposed changes to the Vermont Wetlands Rules in order to effect these protections, and the Secretary of State is taking public comment on the recommendations until Nov. 3.
The state affords Class I wetlands protection to acreage found to be “exceptional or irreplaceable,” and found deserving of the highest level of protection under state wetlands laws, said Laura Lapierre of Vermont’s Department of Environmental Conservation’s wetlands program.
The wetlands under consideration are currently listed as Class II wetlands. This designation, Lapierre said, allows some human activities that could harm such wetlands so long as the loss is compensated elsewhere.
Class I wetlands, on the other hand, don’t allow disturbances like development, except as needed to protect public health or safety, Lapierre said. The difference arises from the fact that Class I wetlands are generally irreplaceable, meaning that harm to them can’t be compensated for through protection of equivalent land somewhere else.
After reviewing more than 20 wetlands deemed potentially worth Class I protection, the Agency of Natural Resources narrowed the list to four — Black Gum Swamps in Vernon, Dennis Pond Wetlands in Brunswick, Chickering Fen in Calais, and Sandbar Wetlands in Milton and Colchester.
The Black Gum Swamps comprise seven communities of red maple-black gum swamp, which are unusual at the latitude near Vernon where the swamps are found, according to an ANR release. The swamps contain black gum trees that are more than 400 years old, ANR representatives said.
The Dennis Pond wetland area, which holds two ponds and about 140 acres of peatland, holds numerous rare and threatened species, as does the 10-acre Chickering Fen, according to ANR officials.
The Sandbar Wetland extends along Lake Champlain and the Lamoille River, and covers 1,359 acres.
Vermont last placed land under Class I protection more than a decade ago.
This is in part because the process of placing land under Class I wetland status is a lengthy one, requiring landowner approval and extensive research, Lapierre said.
The sparsity of Class I wetlands status designations in the past decade is also in part because the Agency of Natural Resources until recently awarded Class I protection only to land where third parties had petitioned for the conservation status, Lapierre said. That’s not the case with the four wetlands currently under consideration.
“For these four wetlands areas there was no petition,” she said. “We are moving them forward on our own initiative.
“We’re hoping that having more examples of Class I in the mix will help conservation groups understand better what Class I means, and what meets that status, so they might find other wetlands to petition to the program,” Lapierre said.
The Agency of Natural Resources will hold three public meetings prior to the Nov. 3 public comment deadline.
The first will take place Oct. 24 at Berlin’s Agency of Natural Resources building, at 190 Junction Road, at 6:00 p.m. The second will be held Oct. 25 at Vernon’s town hall, which is at 567 Governor Hunt Road. The final public meeting on the wetlands rule change will be convened Oct. 27 at the Sylvio O. Conte Wildlife Refuge visitor center, at 5396 Route 105 in Brunswick.
Lapierre is taking public comments by email as well, and can be reached by email at laura.lapierre@vermont.gov.
