Protecting sensitive wetlands.

• Position: New Hampshire - Conservation Law Foundation - Brief article

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CLF RECENTLY ARGUED A CASE BEFORE THE New Hampshire Supreme Court with widespread ramifications for the state's ever-diminishing wetlands resources. The case--part of CLF's ongoing Great Bay Initiative--involves the proposed filling of sensitive headwater wetlands in the Seacoast region, as part of a large residential subdivision project in Greenland. The proposed project consists of nearly 80 house lots to be constructed on a patchwork of uplands surrounded by sensitive wetlands that flow into a perennial stream, which in turn flows via the Winnicut River to Great Bay.

In a sharp departure from past practices, the NH Department of Environmental Services has argued that it need only examine the so-called "direct" impacts of fill being placed in wetlands, as opposed to the true ecological effects of an...