32-033_Request for Determination of Applicability - Rainbow Beach Invasives- WITHDRAWN
wpaform1.doc Page 1 of 4
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Resource Protection - Wetlands WPA Form 1- Request for Determination of Applicability
Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act M.G.L. c. 131, §40
Northampton
City/Town
A. General Information
Important: When filling out forms on the computer, use only the tab key
to move your cursor - do not use the return
key.
1. Applicant:
MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife
Name
chris.buelow@state.ma.us
E-Mail Address
1 Rabbit Hill Road
Mailing Address
Westborough
City/Town
MA
State
01581
Zip Code
508-389-6350
Phone Number
Fax Number (if applicable)
2. Representative (if any):
Northampton Office of Planning & Sustainability
Firm
Contact Name
E-Mail Address
210 Main Street
Mailing Address
Northampton
City/Town
MA
State
01060
Zip Code
Phone Number
Fax Number (if applicable)
B. Determinations
1. I request the Northampton
Conservation Commission
make the following determination(s). Check any that apply:
a. whether the area depicted on plan(s) and/or map(s) referenced below is an area subject to
jurisdiction of the Wetlands Protection Act.
b. whether the boundaries of resource area(s) depicted on plan(s) and/or map(s) referenced
below are accurately delineated. c. whether the work depicted on plan(s) referenced below is subject to the Wetlands Protection Act.
d. whether the area and/or work depicted on plan(s) referenced below is subject to the jurisdiction of any municipal wetlands ordinance or bylaw of:
Northampton
Name of Municipality
e. whether the following scope of alternatives is adequate for work in the Riverfront Area as depicted on referenced plan(s).
wpaform1.doc Page 2 of 4
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Resource Protection - Wetlands WPA Form 1- Request for Determination of Applicability
Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act M.G.L. c. 131, §40
Northampton
City/Town
C. Project Description
1. a. Project Location (use maps and plans to identify the location of the area subject to this request):
Rainbow Road
Street Address
Northampton
City/Town
33
Assessors Map/Plat Number
27, 30, 33
Parcel/Lot Number
b. Area Description (use additional paper, if necessary):
Permanently protected Rainbow Beach Conservation Area (MA Fisheries and Wildlife and Northampton Conservation Commission). Includes riverfront, bank, and BVW
c. Plan and/or Map Reference(s):
Rainbow Beach Conservation Area Invasive Plant Control Plan
Title
8/29/16
Date
Title
Date
Title
Date
2. a. Work Description (use additional paper and/or provide plan(s) of work, if necessary):
Control of invasive plant species in order to keep the existing high integrity floodplain forest functioning at a high level. Please refer to attached narrative.
wpaform1.doc Page 3 of 4
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Resource Protection - Wetlands WPA Form 1- Request for Determination of Applicability
Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act M.G.L. c. 131, §40
Northampton
City/Town
C. Project Description (cont.)
b. Identify provisions of the Wetlands Protection Act or regulations which may exempt the applicant
from having to file a Notice of Intent for all or part of the described work (use additional paper, if necessary).
3. a. If this application is a Request for Determination of Scope of Alternatives for work in the Riverfront Area, indicate the one classification below that best describes the project.
Single family house on a lot recorded on or before 8/1/96
Single family house on a lot recorded after 8/1/96
Expansion of an existing structure on a lot recorded after 8/1/96
Project, other than a single family house or public project, where the applicant owned the lot
before 8/7/96
New agriculture or aquaculture project
Public project where funds were appropriated prior to 8/7/96
Project on a lot shown on an approved, definitive subdivision plan where there is a recorded deed restriction limiting total alteration of the Riverfront Area for the entire subdivision
Residential subdivision; institutional, industrial, or commercial project
Municipal project
District, county, state, or federal government project
Project required to evaluate off-site alternatives in more than one municipality in an
Environmental Impact Report under MEPA or in an alternatives analysis pursuant to an application for a 404 permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or 401 Water Quality
Certification from the Department of Environmental Protection.
b. Provide evidence (e.g., record of date subdivision lot was recorded) supporting the classification above (use additional paper and/or attach appropriate documents, if necessary.)
wpaform1.doc Page 4 of 4
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Resource Protection - Wetlands WPA Form 1- Request for Determination of Applicability
Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act M.G.L. c. 131, §40
Northampton
City/Town
D. Signatures and Submittal Requirements
I hereby certify under the penalties of perjury that the foregoing Request for Determination of Applicability and accompanying plans, documents, and supporting data are true and complete to the best of my
knowledge.
I further certify that the property owner, if different from the applicant, and the appropriate DEP Regional Office were sent a complete copy of this Request (including all appropriate documentation)
simultaneously with the submittal of this Request to the Conservation Commission.
Failure by the applicant to send copies in a timely manner may result in dismissal of the Request for Determination of Applicability.
Name and address of the property owner:
MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife
Name
1 Rabbit Hill Road
Mailing Address
Westborough
City/Town
MA
State
01581
Zip Code
Signatures:
I also understand that notification of this Request will be placed in a local newspaper at my expense
in accordance with Section 10.05(3)(b)(1) of the Wetlands Protection Act regulations.
Signature of Applicant
Date
Signature of Representative (if any)
Date
Rainbow Beach Conservation Area - Invasive Plant Control Plan
Chris Buelow – Restoration Ecologist – MA NHESP – 2016-August-29
Introduction
The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife’s (MassWildlife) Biodiversity Initiative, potentially in conjunction
with the City of Northampton, is considering plans to restore and maintain the Major River Floodplain Forest natural
community at the Rainbow Beach Conservation Area in Northampton, MA (Locus, Figure 01). The Rainbow Beach
Conservation Area supports one of the largest and most intact examples of Major River Floodplain Forest in
Massachusetts, which is considered to be amongst the highest natural community conservation priorities for
MassWildlife. The Major River Floodplain Forest of Rainbow Beach Conservation Area also supports several highly
specialized and quite rare plants and animals that are dependent upon high integrity Floodplain Forest communities.
:
The burgeoning presence of invasive plant species has been identified as the primary threat to the continued function
of the Major River Floodplain Forest at the Rainbow Beach Conservation Area. A comprehensive survey of invasive
species distribution, density and composition funded by MassWildlife in 2016 showed approximately 50-acres of
invasive free high integrity Major River Floodplain Forest remains at the site. The remainder of the Conservation Area
is being impacted by invasive plants to various degrees, ranging from light, scattered presence, to high density, multi-
species infestations. Left uncontrolled, invasive plants at the site will continue to expand in distribution, density, and
impact, resulting in the eventual loss of the core Major River Floodplain Forest as a high integrity community, and
rendering the currently impacted areas of Floodplain Forest virtually beyond restoration.
Invasive Species identified during the 2016 inventory as impacting the Conservation Area are:
Japanese knotweed, Asiatic bittersweet, winged euonymus, common buckthorn, Pachysandra, bishop’s weed,
Japanese barberry, phragmites, autumn olive, reed canary grass, garlic mustard, multi-flora rose, winter creeper,
northern catalpa, and moneywort.
General Invasives Control Approach
This plan is intended to outline the general approach expected to be used in controlling invasives species at the
Rainbow Beach Conservation Area. It is intended to rely heavily upon the principles of adaptive management: i.e.,
instead of laying out a specific long term sequence of specific actions, this plan will instead identify core goals of
invasives control at the site and outline the invasive plant control techniques expected to be used.
:
The primary Goal of this plan is to control invasive plant species at the Rainbow Beach Conservation Area in order
to keep the existing high integrity Major River Flood Plain Forest functioning at a high level, as well as to restore a
high level of function to areas currently being impacted by invasive species. The eradication of invasive plants
from the entire site is not expected to be feasible: instead the primary objectives of this plan are to keep new
infestations from establishing in the core high integrity areas, and reducing invasive presence in the currently
impacted areas to a level that will either allow highly impacted areas to recover, or lightly impacted areas to
continue functioning as Major River Floodplain Forest.
In general, a two-track approach will be taken when setting initial priorities for invasive species control in the
Conservation Area. Maintaining the current high integrity area in a state free of invasives will be an ongoing effort,
and will involve annual/biennial patrols with an early detection/rapid response philosophy designed to keep new
infestations from establishing in this area. Concurrent with maintenance in the high integrity area, an initial focus
will be placed upon the control of species that pose the most immediate threat to the greater Conservation Area.
Japanese knotweed has been identified as the most immediately impactful species in the Conservation Area due to
its ability to spread quickly and create monocultures, and because it’s control can require several rounds of
treatments.
Longer-term, outside of the high integrity area, a more general invasive species control effort is proposed that
focuses on restoring impacted units instead of targeted individual species. Most likely, areas of low-to-moderate
density invasive species presence will be targeted in broad units where multiple species can be treated at the same
time using the same method. The bulk of invasives presence at the Rainbow Beach Conservation Area are
appropriate for this type of a broad control approach, and include Asiatic bittersweet, multi-flora rose, autumn
olive, common buckthorn, winged euonymus, Japanese barberry.
Some invasive species present in the Conservation Area present unique challenges for control due to either their
structure (ex. northern catalpa) or their required control technique (ex. Pachysandra, bishop’s weed). These
species will likely be targeted in Conservation Area-wide control efforts focused on the individual species.
Areas of high-intensity infestation, where most ecosystem function has already been lost, will likely not be treated
until later in the treatment cycle. This approach is to ensure that higher integrity areas are treated early in the
process, before invasives severely impact their function. Eventually, even the high-intensity infestations should be
treated with the goal of returning them to functioning natural communities. Exceptions to delayed treatments in
high-intensity stands may arise when other conservations targets occur in high-intensity stands, such as rare
plants. In these cases, the initial treatments will most likely be focus around the conservation target, with the
intention of simply maintaining the conservation target’s presence until a larger scale treatment is scheduled.
Proposed Techniques
In most cases chemical treatment is the only practical way to effectively control established populations of invasive
plants. Fortunately, herbicide treatments are very effective, and when properly applied, herbicide treatments are
also safe and ecologically sound. MassWildlife has a long history of experience with invasive plant control projects
and a demonstrated track record of achieving clear benefits to target rare species and other wildlife while
reestablishing appropriate native plant communities on the footprints of former invasive plant infestations. In the
case of this project, it is expected that the majority of invasive treatments in the Conservation Area will be
accomplished through the use of foliar herbicide applications. The primary reason for favoring foliar applications
in the Conservation Area is because foliar applications allow for by far the most efficient means of treating large
scale infestations at a high level of efficacy while still obtaining a high level of control over non-target impacts.
:
Using
The following proposed activities could potentially occur in wetland resource areas and buffer zones and are
designed to improve habitat for wildlife, restore plant communities and ecosystem function, and are designed to
avoid changes to hydrology, soil conditions, and the buffering capacity of wetland vegetation to filter runoff and
attenuate pollution.
Herbicide
When using herbicide on DFW related projects, the following are required of both DFW staff and contractors:
- Applicators must be currently licensed Massachusetts Pesticide Applicators.
- Applicators may only use herbicides and surfactants approved for use in Massachusetts, and all herbicide
use must comply with labeled instructions. Only herbicides and surfactants labeled for use in wetlands
may be used in wetland resource areas.
- Applicators will log activities (amount of herbicide used, locations of daily treatments, hours spent at the
site, etc).
- Applicators will use best application practices at all times. In particular, applicators will focus on reducing
drift and non-target effects. Key aspects of this are:
Only spraying when wind speeds are below 10 mph
Selecting the most appropriate application technique for each situation; i.e.:
- only using mist-blowers in dense invasive stands
- using a hydraulic back-pack sprayer on smaller invasive patches
- using the most discrete application methods around rare plants
There are several ways that herbicide is applied when treating invasive plants, including mist-blower, hydraulic
backpack-sprayer, wick, glove and cut-stem. Each method or combination is appropriate for specific situations:
- Mist-blower
: A mist-blower is a motorized applicator that forces a stream of herbicide through a blast of
air that atomizes the herbicide into fine droplets. Typical mist-blowers resemble (and function somewhat
like) back-pack style leaf-blowers. The primary advantage of mist-blowers is that a large area can be
treated in a short amount of time while using less herbicide than more conventional applications. Mist-
blowers are often used in large, dense patches of target vegetation. Mist-blowers are important tools in
treating large areas, and when used by experienced applicators, drift to non-target plants is minimal.
- Hydraulic Backpack-Sprayer
: A hydraulic backpack sprayer is a non-motorized pump worn on the back of
an applicator. The applicator uses a hand-lever attached to the tank that keeps the tank pressurized,
forcing a spray of herbicide through a nozzle on demand. Hydraulic backpack sprayers are capable of
treating much less area than a mist-blower while using a higher volume of herbicide. The advantage of a
hydraulic back-pack sprayer is greater control of herbicide drift. The primary use of a hydraulic back-pack
sprayer is for spot-treatments.
- Wick
: Wicks come in many forms, but they are essentially a rope wick attached to a reservoir of herbicide.
When in operation, the wick becomes saturated with herbicide and is then wiped on the target
vegetation. Two of the more common types of wicks used are a weed-wand and a boom. A weed-wand
is essentially a wick at the end of a handle; the applicator stands and wipes the wick against the
vegetation. A boom is a long wick mounted on a horizontal bar and moved over the vegetation as a
desired height. This can be done either by mounting the boom to a tractor, or by tying a rope to each end
of the bar and dragging the boom through the vegetation. The advantage of the wick is the ability to very
precisely treat an area while minimizing herbicide volumes.
- Glove
: The glove technique is essentially a variation of a weed-wand, but the wick is a glove worn on the
hand. The applicator simply wears a wooly glove with a protective rubber glove beneath, dips the gloved
hand into herbicide until it is saturated, and then wipes their gloved hand against the target vegetation.
This method is typically used in sensitive areas.
- Cut-stem
: The cut-stem technique consists of an applicator cutting stalks/stems and dripping herbicide
into/onto the hollow stem/cut stump of the plant. Cut-stem treatments are the most precise of all listed
treatments, but are also by far the most labor/time intensive.
Pullin
Pulling invasives can occasionally be an effective technique used in invasive plant control, particularly in situations
of low density infestations of shallow-rooted species. There are three primary pulling techniques: Hand-Pulling,
chaining or cabling, and Weed-Wrenching. Hand-pulling is a technique used to opportunistically remove small,
isolated invasive plant targets, or certain shallow-rooted herbaceous targets. Soil disturbance resulting from hand-
pulling is usually minimal. Chaining involves wrapping a plant with a chain or cable attached to a vehicle and
tearing the plant from the ground. Resulting soil disturbance is moderate, usually impacting an area immediately
around the stump and primary root trail. A Weed-Wrench is a hand tool that uses leverage to pry woody
vegetation up to 4”dbh from the ground. Resulting soil disturbance is moderate, usually impacting an area
immediately around the stump and primary root trail. Only hand-pulling is anticipated in the Rainbow Beach
Conservation Area.
g
Flame-Weedin
Flame-weeding employs a propane torch to apply heat/flame to the targeted plant. Targets are typically
unwanted woody vegetation (heat applied to boil cambium), or unwanted cool season grasses (heat applied to the
base of culm). Flame weeding is either used under conditions of low ignition probability (cold or wet) or with the
presence of supporting staff with appropriate suppression equipment (water pump and/or hand tools). Flame -
Weeding is currently not anticipated in the Rainbow Beach Conservation Area.
g
Biolog
For this document, the term Biological-Control refers to biological agents that are introduced to control another
species that is considered to be noxious; typically a non-native, invasive species. Bio-control agents are highly
regulated and are not approved for release unless they have been proven to exhibit strict host specificity. All
Biological-control agents require USDA-APHIS approval, as well as permits from the State of Massachusetts.
Currently, Biological-control agents are not commonly used by MassWildlife, though it is possible that a situation
may arise in the future where a Biological-control agent may be considered for use in the Rainbow Beach
Conservation Area..
ical-Control
Invasive Treatment Site Prep
In some cases it is advisable to cut vegetation before herbicide treatment. This is usually done to A) lower target
biomass to a reachable level to focus application of herbicide; B) weaken the target plant so that it will be more
susceptible to the herbicide treatment; C) remove dead individuals in order to ensure that the maximum amount
of herbicide reaches the target plant; and/or D) remove above ground non-target vegetation from a target invasive
plant area to further reduce the chance of non-target effects. Cutting typically is done with a chainsaw, brushsaw,
or walk-behind mower. In most cases, cut material is left behind unless it contains a large amount of seed or is a
species capable of vegetative reproduction. An important use of cutting at the Rainbow Beach Conservation Area
involved the cutting of Japanese knotweed stands several months prior to an herbicide treatment to increase the
efficacy of control.
aration
Figure 01: Rainbow Beach Conservation Area Locus