Education >> About Certificate Training Programs >> Fundamentals for Conservation Commissioners

(Current Schedule and Registration Forms)

About Certificate Training Programs
Fundamentals for Conservation Commissioners
Advanced Certificate Training


Fundamentals for Conservation Commissions

(Current Schedule and Registration Forms)

This eight-unit course for Conservation Commissioners and staff provides the basics of: Commissions' responsibilities and operations; open space planning, protection and management; and wetlands and wetlands permitting. Upon completion attendees receive a certificate and their communities are notified of their accomplishment.

Course Outline

Unit 1 Overview of Conservation Commissions; Relationships, Responsibilities, Funds and Fees

• Duties and authority
• Federal and state agencies
• Town Boards
• Conflict of Interest Law
• Open Meeting Law

Unit 2 Getting Home Before Midnight:
How to Run and Effective Meeting

• Meeting preparation
• Participants and their interests
• Group dynamics Record Keeping, Public Records Law
• Working with the media

Unit 3 The Wetlands Protection Act:
Fundamentals, Process and Procedures

• Interests of the Act
• Permit submittal requirements
• Forms
• Identifying resource areas
• "Limited" projects

Unit 4 Plan Review and Site Visit Procedures
(includes field session)

• Understanding maps and plans
• Field Session:

~ What to bring to a site visit
~ Soils, slopes and wetland lines
~ Erosion and sedimentation control



(Current Schedule and Registration Forms)

 

 


Fundamentals for Conservation Commissions

(Current Schedule and Registration Forms)  

Unit 5 Wetland Types: Their Functions and Values

• Common vegetated wetlands in Massachusetts
• Scientific v. regulatory wetland definition
• Water quality and other key values
• Performance standards
• Buffer zones

Unit 6 Writing Effective Orders of Conditions

• Protecting interests of the Act
• Boilerplate and special conditions
• Denials and appeals
• Amendments and extensions
• Certification of compliance

Unit 7 Open Space Planning and Protection Techniques

• Establishing goals and objectives
• Inventory of local natural resources
• Selecting parcels
• Conservation restrictions
• Funding and grants

Unit 8 Managing Conservation Land:
Inventories, Goals and Conflicts

Resource evaluation
Management plans
Trails
Hunting, fishing and trapping
Forestry and agriculture

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"Environmental Handbook
for
Massachusetts Conservation Commissioners"

Alexandra D. Dawson, J.D. and Sally A. Zielinski, Ph.D. MACC. Ninth Edition. 2006 Includes 115 -page section on the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act. 640 pp.

Order Information

• Download our latest Publications Catalog and Print out the order form
• MACC Publication #227
• PRICE: $65.00, MACC Members receive a 10%Discount.
• You may want to call the office and order with your credit card.

MACC Office:
(617) 489-3930
E-mail: staff@maccweb.org