Reference Library

Wetlands (also see Buffers)

• NH Method
  The Method for Inventorying and Evaluating Freshwater Wetlands in New Hampshire (NH Method) provides communities, conservation groups and natural resources consultants a practical method for evaluating wetland functions. Originally published in 1991, the NH Method (2011) has been updated for the first time in 20 years. more...
• Wetlands Bureau, Department of Environmental Services
• List of municipalities with wetland protection regulations (from Municipal Land Use Regulation Database)
• "NH Towns’ Wetland Buffer Requirements" This chart begun by Betsy Janeway, Webster, added onto by Chris Parker, Dover, and now Francie Von Mertens, Peterborough. Accuracy/completeness not guaranteed. Thru various list serves a call went out in 2004 for information from town ConComs and Planning Boards. Responses herewith. Since then, occasional updates and additions have been sent in. This does not represent in any way a thorough inventory of town wetland/shoreland ordinances. Send updates/corrections/additions to Francie Von Mertens 924-6550 (January 2010)
• "Wetlands Mitigation/Restoration Issues" Technical Bulletin #2 (Spring 1988)
• The following towns have wetlands ordinances posted online:
  • Rindge 
  • Salem 
  • Somersworth 
• "Functions and Values of Forested/Scrub-Shrub Wetlands" research summary, NHOSP, 1995.
• "Buffers for Wetlands and Surface Waters" (11/95 revised 5/97)
  This document is the result of a cooperative effort between the Audubon Society of NH , UNH Cooperative Extension , the Office of State Planning and the Natural Resources Conservation Service . It provides a summary of the technical basis for vegetative buffer requirements adjacent to priority wetlands and surface waters.
• "Municipal Guide to Wetland Protection"
  Audobon Society of NH, Nashua Regional Planning Commission, NH Association of Conservation Commissions, NH Office of State Planning, NH Wetlands Bureau, September, 1993 (a very limited number of copies of this publication are available by contacting OEP.
• "Buffer Zones and Beyond: Wildlife Use of Wetland Buffer Zones and their Protection under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act", UMASS, Amherst, 2001.
• See the Plan-link subject "Wetland Delineation"
• "Does your town’s wetlands definition need revision?"
  An article about the required definition of wetlands for all land use regulations resulting from HB1148 in 2004. (From Conservation Commission News, the newsletter of the NH Association of Conservation Commissions, Fall 2004) 
• "Protecting New Hampshire’s Wetlands: Municipal Issues", LGC Legal Q&A, New Hampshire Town and City, July/August 2005
• "Fee In Lieu of Compensatory Wetland Mitigation: A New Tool for Developers and Towns Alike"
  by Amy Manzelli, Esq., January 2007 (Amy Manzelli is an environmental attorney at Sulloway & Hollis, P.L.L.C. For further information, please contact her at (603) 223-2828 or amanzelli@sulloway.com.)
• Prime Wetland Designation Activities: 2005- 2008
  From 2005 to 2008, the NHEP supported seven Prime Wetlands designation projects in the Seacoast. In 2008, warrant articles to adopt Prime Wetlands were on the town ballot in the communities of Fremont, Hampton Falls, Brentwood, and Newfields. Three of the four warrants were approved. This report utilizes interviews with Conservation Commission Chairs and key conservation professionals to document the activities leading up to the town vote in each of these towns. NHEP expenditures and outreach materials used by the communities are also included. The report concludes with recommendations for other communities preparing Prime Wetland designations.

Buffers (also see Wetlands)

• Wetlands Bureau, Department of Environmental Services
• Municipal examples:
  • New Durham (Adopted 3/13/07)
    This buffer ordinance was developed with grant funding through the New Hampshire Estuaries Project technical assistance provider program and New Durham received the professional services of Environmental Planner Steve Whitman and conservation biologist Chris Kane who helped develop the ordinance. This is an example of a buffer ordinance that applies to wetlands as well as to lakes, ponds, perennial and intermittent streams. Bob Craycraft -- New Durham Planning Board 859-2866.)
  • Wolfeboro 
• List of municipalities with wetlands buffering requirements (from Municipal Land Use Regulation database)
• "Buffer Zones and Beyond: Wildlife Use of Wetland Buffer Zones and their Protection under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act",  UMASS, Amherst, 2001
• "Buffers for Wetlands and Surface Waters" (11/95 revised 5/97) 
  This document is the result of a cooperative effort between the Audubon Society of NH, UNH Cooperative Extension, the Office of State Planning and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. It provides a summary of the technical basis for vegetative buffer requirements adjacent to priority wetlands and surface waters.
• Planner’s Guide to Wetland Buffers for Local Governments
  The Environmental Law Institute has released a study designed to assist local governments interested in establishing wetland buffer ordinances. Also, the synthesis of the state of the science on wetland/aquatic resource buffers included in the study is of particular interest. This effort was funding with an EPA HQ Wetland Program Development Grant.

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