N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 6 § 662.1

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 50, December 11, 2024

Section 662.1 - Definitions

The following terms, when used in this Part, have the following meanings:

(a) Act means the Freshwater Wetlands Act (article 24 of the Environmental Conservation Law), as amended.

(b) Adjacent area means those areas of land or water that are outside of, and within 100 feet of, the boundary of a freshwater wetland. As set out in subdivision 24-0701.2 of the act, an adjacent area greater than 100 feet may be established where necessary to protect and preserve the wetland.

(c) Alter or alteration refers to the conduct of any of the following activities:

(1) any form of draining, dredging, excavation, or removal of soil, mud, sand, shells, gravel or other aggregate, either directly or indirectly;

(2) any form of dumping, filling or depositing of any soil, stones, sand, gravel, mud, rubbish or fill of any kind, either directly or indirectly;

(3) erecting any structures or roads, the driving of pilings, or the placing of any other obstructions, whether or not changing the ebb and flow of the water;

(4) any form of pollution, including but not limited to installing a septic tank, running a sewer outfall, or discharging sewage treatment effluent or other liquid wastes into or so as to drain into a freshwater wetland; and

(5) any other activity which substantially impairs any of the several functions served by freshwater wetlands or the benefits derived from them which are listed in section 24-0105 of the act.

(d) Applicant means any person who files an application for a permit pursuant to this Part, and who is either the owner of the land on which the proposed alteration would be located, a contract vendee, a lessee of the land, the person who would actually control and directt the proposed activity, or the authorized agent of such person.

(e) Application means a request for an interim permit, filed with the regional permit administrator on a form provided by the department, pursuant to section 662.5 of this Part.

(f) Board means the Freshwater Wetlands Appeals Board, as defined in title 11 of the act.

(g) Boundary means the outer limit of the vegetation specified in paragraphs (k)(1) and (2) of this section and of the lands and waters specified in paragraph (k)(3) of this section.

(h) Chief administrative officer means a city or village mayor, a town supervisor, or, in the case of a county, the county executive, borough president, or appropriate county legislative body official, as the case may be.

(i) Commissioner means the Commissioner of Environmental Conservation or a duly designated representative.

(j) Department means the Department of Environmental Conservation.

(k) Freshwater wetlands or wetlands means lands and waters of the State that are subject to regulation under this Part because they have an area of 12.4 acres or more, or have a smaller area but have been determined by the commissioner to have unusual local importance because they provide one or more of the benefits of wetlands described in subdivision 24-0105.7 of the act and are listed as such in the office of the appropriate regional permit administrator. These lands and waters contain any or all of the following:

(1) lands and submerged lands commonly called marshes, swamps, sloughs, bogs, and flats supporting aquatic or semi-aquatic vegetation of the following types:

(i) wetland trees, which depend upon seasonal or permanent flooding or sufficiently water-logged soils to give them a competitive advantage over other trees, including, among others, red maple (Acer rubrum), willows (Salix spp.), black spruce (Picea mariana), swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor), red ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), black ash (Fraxinus nigra), silver maple (Acer saccharinum), American elm (Ulmus americana), and larch (Larix Laricina);

(ii) wetland shrubs, which depend upon seasonal or permanent flooding or sufficiently waterlogged soils to give them a competitive advantage over other shrubs, including, among others, alder (Alnus spp.), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), bog rosemary (Andromeda glaucophylla), dogwoods (Cornus spp.), and leatherleaf (Chanaedaphne calyculata);

(iii) emergent vegetation, including, among others, cattails (Typhaspp.), pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata), bulrushes (Scirpus spp.), arrow-arum (Peltandra virginica), arrowheads (Sagittaria spp.), reed (Phragmites communis), wild rice (Zizania aquatica), bur reeds (Sparganium spp.), purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), swamp loosestrife (Decodon verticillatus), and water plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica);

(iv) rooted, floating-leaved vegetation, including, among others, water lily (Nymphaea odorata), water shield (Brasenia schreberi) and spatterdock (Nuphar spp.);

(v) free-floating vegetation, including, among others, duckweed (Lemna spp.), big duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza), and watermeal (Wolffia spp.);

(vi) wet meadow vegetation, which depends upon seasonal or permanent flooding or sufficiently waterlogged soils to give it a competitive advantage over other openland vegetation, including, among others, sedges (Carex spp.), rushes (Juncus spp.), cattails (Typha spp.), rice cut-grass (Leersia oryzoides), reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea), swamp loosestrife (Decodon verticillatus), and spikerush (Eleocharisspp.);

(vii) bog mat vegetation, including, among others, sphagnum mosses (Sphagnum spp.), bog rosemary (Andromeda glaucophylla), leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata), pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea), and cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon and V. oxycoccos);

(viii) submergent vegetation, including, among others, pondweeds (Potamogeton spp.), naiads (Najas spp.), bladderworts (Utricularia spp.); wild celery (Vallisneria americana), coontail (Ceratophyllum demersum), water milfoils (Myriophyllum spp.), muskgrass (Charaspp.), stonewort (Nitella spp.), waterweeds (Elodeaspp.), and water smartweed (Polygonum amphibium);

(2) lands and submerged lands containing remnants of any vegetation that is not aquatic or semi-aquatic that has died because of wet conditions over a sufficiently long period, provided that such wet conditions do not exceed a maximum seasonal water depth of six feet, and provided further that such conditions can be expected to persist indefinitely, barring human intervention;

(3) lands and waters substantially enclosed by aquatic or semi-aquatic vegetation as set forth in paragraph (1) of this subdivision or by dead vegetation as set forth in paragraph (2) of this subdivision, the regulation of which is necessary to protect and preserve the aquatic and semi-aquatic vegetation;

(4) waters overlying the areas set forth in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subdivision and lands underlying the areas set forth in paragraph (3) of this subdivision; and

(5) as contained in subdivision (b) of section 664.7 of this Title, two or more areas of land and/or water, as defined in paragraphs (1) through (4) of this subdivision, may be considered to be a single wetland for regulatory purposes if they are determined by the commissioner to function as a unit, or to be dependent upon each other, in providing one or more of the wetland benefits listed in paragraphs 24-0105.7(a), (b), (c), (e), (f), and (i) of the act, and if they are no more than 50 meters (approximately 165 feet) apart.

(l) Interim permit means a written approval on a special form, allowing the alteration of a freshwater wetland or an adjacent area, that is issued by the commissioner prior to the department's filing of the applicable final freshwater wetlands map pursuant to section 24-0301 of the act.

(m) Local government means a village, town, city or county.

(n) Person means any corporation, firm, partnership, association, trust, estate, one or more individuals, or any unit of Federal, State or local government or any agency or subdivision thereof, including any State department, bureau, commission, board or other agency, public authority or public benefit corporation.

(o) Pollution means the presence in the environment of human-induced conditions or contaminants in quantities or characteristics which are or may be injurious to human, plant or animal life or to property.

(p) Regional permit administrator means the employee of the department designated by the commissioner to process permits in a regional office of the department.

(q) Selective cutting of timber means the annual or periodic removal of trees, individually or in small groups, in order to realize the yield and establish a new stand, and to improve the forest. It does not mean tree-cutting that causes the total elimination of one or more particular species of trees.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 6 § 662.1