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

" Environmental Handbook
for
Massachusetts Conservation Commissioners"

Alexander D. Dawson, J.D. and Sally A. Zielinski, Ph.D. MACC. Eighth Edition. 2002 Includes 70-page section on the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act. 390 pp.

Order Information

• Download our latest Publications Catalog and Print out the order form on page #19.
• MACC Publication #066
• PRICE: $35.00, 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
 

Fundamental for Conservation Commissions

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

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

(Current Schedule and Registration Forms)