VEGETATED FRESHWATER WETLAND (WET MEADOWS, MARSHES, SWAMPS AND BOGS): MGL 131 s.40, 310 CMR 10.55/Orleans Conservation Commission
The term “freshwater wetlands” as used in this section shall mean wet meadows, marshes, swamps, bogs, areas where groundwater, flowing or standing surface water or ice provides a significant part of the supporting substrate for a plant community for at least five months of the year; emergent and submergent plant communities in inland waters; that portion of any bank which touches any inland waters. Freshwater wetlands are areas where the topography is low and flat, and where the soils are annually saturated and within which 50% or more of the species of the vegetational community consists of the wetland plant species identified below:
A. BOGS: MGL 131 s. 40 – Areas where standing or slowly running water is near or at the surface during a normal growing season and where a vegetational community has a significant portion of the ground or water surface covered with sphagnum moss (Sphagnum) and where the vegetational community is made up of a significant portion of one or more of, but not limited to nor necessarily including all, of the following plants or groups of plants: aster (Aster nemoralis), azaleas (Rhododendron canadense and R. viscosum), black spruce (Picea mariana), bog cotton (Eriophorum), cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon), high bush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), larch (Larix laricina), laurels (Kalmia augustifolia and K. polifolia), leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata), orchids (Arethusa, Calopogon, Pogonia), pitcher plants (Sarracenia purpurea), sedges (Cyperaceae), sundews (Droseraceae), sweet gale (Myrica gale), white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides).
B. SWAMPS, MGL 131 s. 40 – Areas where the groundwater is at or near the surface of the ground for a significant part of the growing season or where runoff water from surface drainage frequently collects above the soil surface, and where a significant part of the vegetational community is made up of, but not limited to nor necessarily including all, of the following plants or groups of plants: alders (Alnus), ashes (Fraxinus), azaleas (Rhododendron canadense and R. viscosum), black alder (Ilex verticillata), black spruce (Picea mariana), button bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis),American or white elm (Ulmus americana), white Hellebore (Veratrum viride), hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), highbush Blueberry (Vaccinum corymbosum), larch (Larix laricina), cowslip (Caltha palustris), poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix), red maple (Acer rubrum), skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), sphagnum mosses (Sphagnum), spicebush (Lindera benzoin), black gum tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), sweet pepper bush (Clethra alnifolia), white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides), willow (Salicaceae).
C. WET MEADOW, MGL 131 s. 40 – Areas where the groundwater is at the surface for a significant part of the growing season and near the surface throughout the year and where a significant part of the vegetational community is composed of various grasses, sedges and rushes; made up of, but not limited to nor necessarily including all, of the following plants or groups of plants: blue flag (Iris), vervain (Verbena), thoroughwort (Eupatorium), dock (Rumex), false loosestrife (Ludwigia), hydrophile grasses (Gramineae), marsh fern (Dryopteris thelypteris), rushes (Juncaceae), sedges (Cyperaceae), sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis), smartweeds (Polygonum).
D. MARSHES, MGL 131 s. 40: Areas where a vegetational community exists in standing or running water during the growing season and where a significant part of the vegetational community is composed of, but not limited to nor necessarily including all of the following plants or groups of plants: arums (Araceae), bladderworts (Utricularia), bur reeds (Sparganiaceae), button bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), cattails (Typha),common reeds (Phragmites) duck weeds (Lemnaceae), eel grass (Vallisneria), frog bits (Hydrocharitaceae), horsetails (Equisetaceae), hydrophilic grasses (Gramineae), leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata), pickerel weeds (Pontederiaceae), pipeworts (Ericoaulon), pond weeds, (Potamogeton), rushes (Juncaceae), sedges (Cyperaceae), smartweeds (Polygonum), sweet gale (Myrica gale), water milfoil (Haloragaceae), water lilies (Mymphaeaceae), water starworts (Callitrichaceae), water willow (Decodon verticillatus).
