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Conservation groups seek streamlined permitting for marsh restoration, say current rules slow low‑risk projects
Summary
Mass Audubon, The Trustees and restoration practitioners urged the committee to consolidate permitting for ecological restoration projects such as marsh ditch-filling and dam removals, arguing current chapter 91 licenses and overlapping reviews add months and high costs to low-risk efforts to restore wetlands and coastal marshes.
Conservation organizations told the committee that current environmental permitting rules create procedural barriers for ecological restoration projects — including salt-marsh ditch remediation, dam removals and abandoned cranberry bog restoration — and asked lawmakers to advance legislation to streamline review and reduce duplicative licensing.
Representatives of Mass Audubon, The Trustees and the Nature Conservancy described projects in which contractors and volunteers use low‑impact techniques (hand-raking marsh hay into ditches, filling historic channels) to raise marsh…
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