Multiple Residential Property Owners
DRG aided four residential property owners facing regulatory or legal challenges due to vegetation removal in protected Resource Areas across Massachusetts.
Keeping Up With Regulatory Requirements
From 2021 through 2023, Davey Resource Group, Inc. (DRG) assisted four residential property owners or neighbors with responses to regulatory or legal challenges for their actions, specifically vegetation removal from protected resource areas (RA) and/or private properties in Dukes, Essex, Middlesex, and Worcester Counties. In all four cases, the responses were prepared to address requirements from conservation commissions or court action(s). On three properties, DRG conducted wetlands and RA delineations in accordance with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MADEP) Wetlands and Waterways Regulations, MGL c. 131, § 40. DRG determined the extent of the affected RA, including wetlands, bordering vegetated wetlands, and/or protected habitats. For the field surveys, DRG used a sub-meter, hand-held GPS, Leica Zeno Flex plus smart antennae, and field iPad software with as low as two cm accuracy and prepared GIS maps.
A Comprehensive Solution
Restoration plans were prepared to rebuild lost ecological functions and values in accordance with the minimum requirements of the MA Division of Ecological Restoration and specified erosion control measures, methods to minimize herbivory (i.e., deer fences), native (non-cultivar) trees and shrubs, native seed mixes, and temporary or permanent habitat restorations with bird houses, bat boxes, woody debris piles, large logs, etc. and RA boundary signs. The notice of intents (permit applications) and restoration plans were accepted without regulatory challenges. One of the restoration plans was used to mediate a settlement in superior court between neighbors.
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