The Franklin Conservation Commission is responsible for promoting and protecting the natural resources of Franklin and protecting the town’s watershed resources. A large part of the Commission’s attention is directed to administering Massachusetts and Franklin wetland protection laws and regulations. Those laws and regulations require the Commission permits to work in or within 100 feet of a wetland, in the 100 year flood hazard zone or within 200 feet of a perennial stream.
The Commission is comprised of up to seven volunteer residents appointed for three year terms by the Town Administrator. The current members of the Commission have diverse professional experience related to environmental science, biology, engineering, landscape design, and project management. Because of their different backgrounds, each commissioner is able to offer a different perspective during the review of applications for a wetland permit that ultimately benefits Franklin.
Franklin has continuously been well represented at the annual conference of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions in March, with Commissioners attending classes and workshops and talking with other Commissioners from across the state as well as lawyers, ecologists and engineers active in conservation.
The Commission, via its Chairman, has also participated in the Keystone Project, which is organized and run by UMASS. The Keystone Project is designed to stimulate forest landowners and community opinion leaders to be advocates of sound forest conservation, and to help inform the land management and conservation decisions of their friends, neighbors, organizations, and communities.
In 2012, the EPA proposed regulations to reduce the amount of phosphorus in storm water runoff into the Charles River basin, with Franklin, Bellingham and Milford as the pilot communities These regulations remain at a standstill as the EPA continues to work out the regulatory details. The Commission monitors the status of these regulations while encouraging and advising on appropriate stormwater management practices where applicable in Conservation jurisdiction.
The Commission continues to work on the DelCarte Area (aka the Franklin Reservoirs) off of Pleasant Street. There are a series of seven “structures” (six dams that had been originally used for cranberry farming and a stone wall that beavers had dammed) along Miller brook thru the 100+ acre DelCarte Area. The dams are identified serially from Dam #1, located closest to downtown adjacent to the MBTA Dean station, to #6, located furthest downstream, closest to Miller Street. The Commission is currently in the process of investigating the undertaking of an ecological study to ascertain the flora and fauna viability in the pond.
 |
| DelCarte in full fall color |
Since the last annual report, the Conservation Commission has received 63 permit applications to work within areas under their permitting jurisdiction. These applications range from the removal of dead trees in a buffer zone to the construction of industrial buildings and associated drainage. The Commission also issued 26 certificates of completion for various projects and granted extensions to allow projects to finish. Two emergency certifications were also issued to the Franklin Dept. of Public Works. In addition, based on the snow emergency declared by DEP in Feb-March 2015, emergency snow storage permissions were developed and issued.
The Commission would like to draw the attention of the Town’s residents to the many protected natural areas in the Town and the opportunities for passive recreation they enable:
- The DelCarte Area, with parking off of Pleasant Street, has recently improved walking trails through woodlands along a series of ponds. Two canoe launches and an above-water boardwalk to completely connect the trail system have been installed.
- Several Eagle Scout and school/class projects have been completed or are on-going in the DelCarte and Dacey Field areas, and the town forest.. These projects have helped in the clearing of trails and the erecting of educational signage and the cleaning up of debris. Additional projects are being undertaken in the Town Forest to improve the existing trail system; The Town Forest has good access points off of both Summer Street and Russet Hill Road with a network of walking trails thru woodlands and across Uncas Brook;
- There is a network of walking trails that cross Shepards Brook and go thru fields and woods behind the Dacey Recreation Area off Lincoln Street;
- Indian Rock has good access off of both King Phillip Road and Lost Horse Trail with walking trails thru woodlands near two large vernal pools and to the top of historic Indian Rock;
- The Metacomet Land Trust owns several pieces of protected land, notably the walking trails off of Bridle Path and The Lady Bug Trail near JFK school;
- The Franklin State Forest is accessible off of Grove Street and Forge Hill Road and boasts an extensive network of walking and ORV trails;
- The SNETT trail goes all the way to Douglas. There is a Town parking lot off of Grove Street. The Trail section from Prospect Street into Bellingham is currently being reconstructed by the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation. The reconstruction was permitted by the Commission in early 2015;
- The expansive marsh near Interstate 495 exit #17 is the US Army Corps of Engineers Natural Valley Flood Storage Project, preserved to protect against downstream flooding in the Charles River basin. That marsh is along Mine Brook, the largest stream in town, draining about half of Franklin, starting at the extreme south end of Franklin, passing underneath Washington Street, Beaver Street, 495, Grove Street, West Central Street, 495 again, Beech Street, and Pond Street before finally meeting the Charles River on the Medway border.
- Other significant streams in Franklin include Shepards Brook, Miller Brook, Uncas Brook and Bubbling Brook. Lake Populatic is part of the Charles River, the other navigable ponds in Franklin are Spring (Green’s) Pond, Beaver Pond, and Uncas Pond, the last two of which are listed as Great Ponds by Mass DEP. There are many other natural areas in Franklin waiting to be explored.
The Commission would also like the town residents to be aware of the potential tax savings of M.G. L. Chapter 61 (forest land), 61A (agricultural land) and 61B (recreational land). Such programs are designed to benefit the land owner via reducing the tax burden as well as to preserving and
maintaining the quality and quantity of environmentally sensitive and natural areas within the commonwealth.
Conservation Commission Members:
Jeff Livingstone – ChairPaul Harrington - - Vice Chair
Scott McLean
Ravi Pendkar
Steve Younis
Bill Batchelor
Respectfully submitted,
Jeff Livingstone, Chair
Please visit our website for additional information including application forms, and regularly posted Conservation Commission agendas and meeting minutes at http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Conservation/index
-----------
"Prior to November 1 of each year, the Town Clerk shall cause to be prepared and made available to the inhabitants of the Town an annual report for the preceding fiscal year which shall include: the annual Town budget, the reports of all Town officers, the records of all Town Council bylaw amendments and resolutions, an abstract of births, marriages and deaths, and the wages, salaries, or other compensation of all Town employees." [Added 5-2-2012 by Bylaw Amendment 12-681]
Shared from the full and complete PDF version of the Town of Franklin Annual Report for 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment