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Editor's Note: See § NR 115.05(1)(c), Wis. Adm. Code.
[Section NR 115.05(1)(c)1, Wis. Adm. Code] To protect natural scenic beauty, fish and wildlife habitat, and water quality, a county shall regulate removal of vegetation in shoreland areas, consistent with the following: The County shall establish ordinance standards that consider sound forestry and soil conservation practices, as well as the effect of vegetation removal on water quality, including soil erosion, and the flow of effluents, sediments and nutrients.
[Section NR 115.05(1)(c)2, Wis. Adm. Code] To protect water quality, fish and wildlife habitat and natural scenic beauty, and to promote preservation and restoration of native vegetation, the County ordinance shall designate land that extends from the ordinary high-water mark to a minimum of 35 feet inland as a vegetative buffer zone and prohibit removal of vegetation in the vegetative buffer zone except as follows:
A. 
The County may allow routine maintenance of vegetation.
B. 
The County may allow removal of trees and shrubs in the vegetative buffer zone to create access and viewing corridors. Per § 59.692(1f)(b), Wis. Stats., the viewing corridor may be at least 35 feet wide for every 100 feet of shoreline frontage. The viewing corridor may run contiguously for the entire maximum width of shoreline frontage owned.
C. 
The County may allow removal of trees and shrubs in the vegetative buffer zone on a parcel with 10 or more acres of forested land consistent with "generally accepted forestry management practices" as defined in § NR 1.25(2)(b), Wis. Adm. Code, and described in Department publication "Wisconsin Forest Management Guidelines" (Publication FR-226), provided that vegetation removal be consistent with these practices.
D. 
The County may allow removal of vegetation within the vegetative buffer zone to manage exotic or invasive species, damaged vegetation, vegetation that must be removed to control disease, or vegetation creating an imminent safety hazard, provided that any vegetation removed be replaced by replanting in the same area as soon as practicable.
E. 
The County may authorize by permit additional vegetation management activities in the vegetative buffer zone. The permit issued under this subsection shall require that all management activities comply with detailed plans approved by the County and designed to control erosion by limiting sedimentation into the water body, to improve the plant community by replanting in the same area, and to maintain and monitor the newly restored area. The permit also shall require an enforceable restriction to preserve the newly restored area.
From the inland edge of the thirty-five-foot area to the outer limits of the shoreland, the cutting of vegetation shall be allowed when accomplished using accepted forest management and soil conservation practices which protect water quality.