I live off the grid and need more power than my solar panles can produce (rainfall amounts for the last three years are roughly 15% more than average/"normal"). I've spoken with the chair of my town's Conservation Commision and know the I'll have to file a notice of intent with DEP. My question is ; Do you know of any state regs that would prevent me from going ahead with this? If my brook, Maxwell Brook in Charlemont, is being stocked with Atlantic Salmon frye by fisheries and wildlife will that prevent my project. (I may sound damned lazy but i can't afford the expense of filing if it is just a dead end) Any info or leads will be greatly appreciated. mark

very interesting question! i confess i don't know about microhydro, or regs concerning its application. you're right, though- if you are going to do something in a stream in Charlemont, you'd need to file with the concom. could be that they don't have this kind of expertise... i think were i in your shoes, after informally consulting with the local concom, i might try to talk to someone with MA DEP about this-
www.mass.gov/dep/about/region/westernr.htm
in the western regional office.

as you suggest, prior to the effort of officially filing.
i really don't know about the possible effect of stocked salmon in the stream, and what that might do...

but green approaches to energy seem quite popular these days. good luck!

Hi -

DBK is right - although the MA Wetlands Protection Act is a state law, it is implemented at the local level through Conservation Commissions. The permit application is submitted to the Conservation Commission. Copies of the application form are sent to the regional office of the MA DEP (Charlement is in the Western Region) in the event of an appeal, or in the event a project is complicated enought to require additional permits. Depending on what you are proposing and what type of wetland you have on your property, you can file either a Request for Determination of Applicability (a request to see if the law and regulations apply to the project) or a Notice of Intent (the full permit application). See www.mass.gov/dep/water/approvals/wwforms.htm#noi

Anyway, I thought I'd give you a little background information on the Wetlands Protection Act (MGL CHapter 131, section 40) and the regulations (310 CMR 10.00), so you can ask more specific questions. Strictly speaking, the Wetlands Protection Act doesn't regulate "wetlands", it regulates wetlands by their function. For example, on your property, you likely have a bank to the stream, which is regulated as "Bank", you have the land under the stream, which is regulated as "Land Under Water" and you may have wetlands that border on the stream, which is regulated as "Bordering Vegetated Wetland". Also, you may have a FEMA floodplain, which would be regulated as "Bordering Land Subject to Flooding".

Each one of these so-called Resource Areas have performance standards, to which all work must comply. For example, with rare exception, you can't alter more than 5,000 square feet of Bordering Vegetated Wetland. So depending on what you are proposing, you may or may not be able to meet the performance standards. Do you think you're looking at building a dam for hydro? Are you thinking of withdrawing water to create a source of flow somewhere else for energy?

As DBK suggested, if your Conservation Commission isn't sure about its jurisdiction over what you are thinking of doing, you can definitely check with MA DEP (See the link provided by DBK).

Other links that may be useful are as follows:
To see whether the MA GIS data shows wetland on your property, go to www.mass.gov/mgis/.

Check out the Office of Dam Safety: www.mass.gov/dcr/pe/damSafety/index.htm

To get more information on the potential salmon stocking issues, check out(www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/dfwstksl.htm)

To see if you have rare or endangered species on your property or along the brook, check out the MA Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program (NHESP): www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/nhesp.htm and also the Mass GIS web site, which has a layer for NHESP.

And I know you're somewhat reluctant to start all this energy and expense if it's not even feasible, but you may want to hire a consultant who can tell you exactly what you have on your property and then you can figure out whether your project will be able to meet the performance standards.

I hope this hasn't been too overwhelming a response, but, as DBK says - depending on what you're thinking of - this is an interesting question.

Thanks, Hyla!
I highly recommend checking out the "see your land" aspect of massacorn- there, you can see air photos of all of the deerfield and westfield river watersheds, AND you can see the DEP wetlands layer and the rare species layers that Hylabrooks recommends.

click on the "navigation" tab, and then in the "zoom to" drop down click on charlemont, and it will take you right there. you'll have to zoom in a little more to be able to turn on the orthophotos. but in the layers section you can turn on "water" to get the brooks, and the wetlands and other layers. you can alternatively use the topo quads instead of the air photos.

hope this helps, and
thanks to Hylabrooks for excellent info on this interesting issue!

Maxwell Brook shows up well when you turn on the hydro layer! I bet you can find your house in the air photo!