Commission confirms Amtrak wetland boundaries for vegetation-management plan

The Foxborough Conservation Commission voted May 18 to issue a positive 2A determination confirming the mapped wetland and groundwater-protection boundaries within Amtrak's right-of-way as part of the railroad's vegetation-management plan.

Tom Lewis, representing Amtrak, told commissioners that rail vegetation control in Massachusetts is governed by the rights-of-way regulations (CMR 333 —1100) and administered through the Department of Agricultural Resources; Amtrak's previous vegetation-management plan expired last year and the new plan is in renewal. He said the maps submitted for Foxborough reflect current MassGIS data layers and that most resource boundaries were unchanged, though one Zone 2 groundwater-protection area shrank compared with earlier mapping.

"These data layers all come off MassGIS," Lewis said while walking the commission through the mapping and color codes used to depict buffers, Zone 2 recharge areas and priority habitat.

Commissioners asked technical questions about how the Zone 2 changed and whether Amtrak's operational plan would allow changes during the five-year approval period. Lewis said the positive 2A determination confirms the boundaries for the life of the vegetation-management plan, but the town will receive Amtrak's yearly operational plan and residents and officials can raise concerns at the annual public-comment opportunity. He also explained that the Department of Agricultural Resources oversees the actual herbicide applications.

After discussion the commission voted to issue the positive 2A determination for Amtrak's rail-right-of-way vegetation-control plan, confirming the resource-area boundaries as submitted.

Next steps: Amtrak will continue its permit renewal process and the commission will receive the yearly operational plan for local review and comment.