The town’s Conservation Commission is the agency specifically charged by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with the protection of Petersham’s natural resources, especially wetlands and watersheds. The Commission issues permits for work that might impact wetlands and watersheds. That work could be constructing any building, including a house, garage, barn, or shed; erecting a fence; creating a driveway; moving earth or boulders; or digging a pond where the work, or anything resulting during or after the work, might impact wetlands, the bordering lands under the Commission’s jurisdiction, or specifically delineated watershed lands.
The environment in which our community lives impacts our own health in many ways. One of the Commission’s main concerns is the protection of our town’s drinking water quality. Over time, even a seemingly small impact on a remote wetland or its bordering habitats may influence the quality of water in your drinking water well, your neighbors’ wells, and the Quabbin Reservoir, which serves many municipalities in the Commonwealth, including Boston and Chicopee. The Petersham Conservation Commission wants to help you and everyone else in Petersham maintain the high quality of our drinking water and our environment by protecting wetlands and their bordering habitats whether they are on your land or nearby land. Petersham is special in that it is the headwaters of the major feeder to the Quabbin Reservoir, the East Branch of the Swift River, and it is dense with wetlands. Please help us keep our waters as pristine as possible for all of our sakes!
- The Conservation Commission encourages anyone planning any land use change or landscaping modifications that do not conform to the natural state to contact the Conservation Commission before starting the work. Forestry activities are regulated by the MA Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), but we encourage anyone who is planning a cutting to check with us about wetlands that may be on the site.
- Anyone planning to build any structure in Petersham should contact the Petersham Conservation Commission before asking the Building Inspector, the Board of Health, the Planning Board, or the Zoning Board of Appeals to sign off on the site plan or the building permit.
Doing so will lessen the complications that arise if your project is subject to the Wetlands Protection Act (WPA) regulations and/or the Watershed Protection Act (WsPA) regulations. Note that the restrictions on delineated watershed lands impacting the Quabbin Watershed are more stringent than those for land which must meet the requirements of the Wetlands Protection Act. The Conservation Commission can assist you with determining with which regulations your project must comply. Please communicate with the Conservation Commission Chair by email or phone as listed under Petersham Conservation Commission Contacts.
The Commission encourages anyone who is planning work to file a Request for Determination of Applicability (WPA Form 1, see the link to Massachusetts Wetlands Permitting Forms, below). It is an easy and free form that triggers the Conservation Commission to determine whether your project might impact wetlands and their regulated bordering habitats (in all of Petersham) or the Quabbin Watershed (in approximately 90% of Petersham). Not all of the wetlands and their bordering habitats that are jurisdictional under the Wetlands Protection Act and that are located in the Quabbin Watershed are also jurisdictional under the Watershed Protection Act. The Conservation Commission can help you with the distinction.
Because the Commission usually meets once per month on the first Tuesday evening, you should contact the Chair of the Conservation Commission as soon as you start thinking about your project. Meeting with the Commission can assist you with siting projects so that they don’t impact any jurisdictional areas. Also, the Commission can make recommendations that minimize the Commission’s jurisdiction and inform you in advance of which forms you may need to file and which departments of the Commonwealth require copies of the forms. Meeting with us early in your process can simplify the process and prevent any delays due to the Commission’s jurisdiction over your project. Please, remember that your urgency does not necessarily become our urgency, as you decide when to contact us. Contacting us earlier is best for you!
Remember, the Petersham Conservation Commission wants to help you simplify the process for completing your project.
The most common reason someone consults with the Petersham Conservation Commission is to determine whether work that they are planning might impact a wetland or the Quabbin Watershed. A typical process to determine whether your project might impact wetlands or the watershed is:
- Contact the Chair of the Petersham Conservation Commission
- After checking maps, the Chair will determine whether you should complete WPA Form 1 – Request for Determination of Applicability (RDA) and file it according to instructions for the form. The Chair may ask that you fill out a draft of the RDA with a rough sketch of your project and its siting on your property for the Conservation Commission’s consideration. Doing so may eliminate the need to schedule a formal review of the RDA, file it with the requisite agencies, and post the required notice in a local newspaper
- If it is determined that a formal review of the Form WPA1 (RDA) is required, confirm with the Chair of the Conservation Commission that you have submitted a copy of the final form with the requisite agencies, your application is on the next meeting agenda, and that you will post a public notice about the meeting in a local paper according to state regulations, namely the Athol Daily News in Greenfield MA
- Attend the meeting at which your application is scheduled for formal review, but it is in your best interest to attend any meeting during which we will discuss your project. A site visit may be planned by the Conservation Commission for before the scheduled meeting or soon after the scheduled meeting. If the site visit is scheduled for after the meeting, discussion of your application will be continued to the meeting following the site visit, where it will also be put on the agenda, but additional notices in the paper are not required
- The Conservation Commission determines whether your project is likely to impact any jurisdictional areas. If it does, the Commission will require that you complete a WPA Form 3 – Notice of Intent (NOI) and file it according to the instructions for the form. Filing an NOI also requires the posting of a formal Public Hearing about the NOI in a local newspaper, the Athol Daily News in Greenfield MA, according to state regulations. Completing an NOI requires a more detailed description of the proposed work, detailed site plans, and detailed descriptions of the plans to prevent impact of the work on jurisdictional areas. The Commission’s Chair and you should be in close contact as you prepare and file, and as we consider your NOI, to ensure that all necessary materials are submitted and all necessary steps are followed
- Any work that may impact a regulated Quabbin Watershed area will require additional filings with the Department of Conservation and Recreation for watershed protection
Conservation Commission Managed Properties
The Town of Petersham owns a number of properties in town. Some of these are dedicated conservation properties. The four properties that the Petersham Conservation Commission manages (totaling 269 acres) are:
- Babbitt Wildlife Sanctuary and two adjacent properties
- Davenport Pond Conservation Area
The Commission also holds (and monitors) Conservation Restrictions on over 880 acres of private land in town.
Other Resources
Wetlands
What Makes a Wetland a Wetland?, a video by the Virginia Sea Grant/George Mason University Advances Science Communication Seminar
Nature’s Filters: Wetlands, Forests, and the Fight Against Water Pollution by the Thrive Project
A video by The Planet Voice on the import role that wetlands play around the world and how they are endangered by human activity, Why Are Wetlands Important?
Quabbin Reservoir
NASA’s brief description of the Quabbin Reservoir came to be and how the surrounding forests help to filter the water to one of the world’s largest domestic water supplies.
A video by The Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Water Supply Protection, about the Quabbin Reservoir, it’s history and maintaining a clean water supply, Understanding the Quabbin.
A boat ramp project permitted in a previously disturbed area by the Petersham Conservation Commission, A New Quabbin Boat Ramp!
Invasive Plants
Mass Audubon’s Invasive Plants in Massachusetts provides information on the identification and management of invasive plants.
Grow Native Mass provides abundant information and resources to inspire people to action across the Commonwealth on behalf of growing native plants and the diversity of life they support.
Native Plant Trust, the nation’s first plant conservation organization and the only one solely focused on New England’s native plants, offers many resources including classes, access to Garden in the Woods, and native plants at its Nasami Farm Nursery.
Open Space and Recreation
For information on many aspects of the outdoor environment and its uses in Petersham see the Open Space and Recreation Committee webpage and the Open Space and Recreation Plan 2024 for Petersham.