Since 1983, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
and the Town of Nantucket Conservation Commission have determined
that activities within the one-hundred-foot buffer zone pose a significant
risk to the health of wetland resource areas. Therefore, a request
for determination of applicability or notice of intent must be filed
for all activities proposed within the buffer zone to these resource
areas.
The role that a protective buffer zone plays in the maintenance
of healthy resource areas has been discussed in scientific literature
for decades. Documentation exists that shows (Omernik 1977) a direct
relationship in increased nitrogen and phosphorous loading to wetlands
and water bodies as their adjacent watersheds are cleared. Water quality
can be better maintained if undisturbed protective buffer strips are
maintained and preserved along surface water bodies. Adverse impacts
from sediment erosion and transport are also minimized with the maintenance
of an undisturbed buffer between the site development and the wetland
resource area. Further, the transitional assemblage of trees, shrubs,
and ground cover found in undisturbed buffer zones has been found
significant to the support of a greater number of native wildlife
species and fauna (biodiversity) in the interior of resource areas
which they border.
Although the Town of Nantucket Wetlands Protection Bylaw (Chapter
136, Wetlands, of the Code of the Town of Nantucket) defines significant cumulative effects as criteria for denying a project, permit-level activities (i.e., site disturbance) are difficult to measure on a scale of cumulative impacts (watersheds). Cumulative effects result from individually minor but collectively significant actions taking place over a period of time. The level of information required and techniques employed for individual permit review are generally not sufficiently definitive to accurately assess potentially significant cumulative impacts, even though it may be clear that the collective impact of many such activities could adversely affect a wetland resource area. The best protection against cumulative impacts is the maintenance and preservation of an undisturbed buffer zone.