Protecting Priority Landscapes
Land Use Planning: Balancing Growth with Natural Resource Protection
Thoughtful land use planning can allow for needed community growth while protecting important natural resources such as drinking water supplies, priority greenway and forests, and critical wildlife habitat. Land use plans can also take into account natural resources that help to mitigate the impacts of climate change, helping communities to be more resilient and sustainable.
Up-to-date community Master Plans, Open Space Plans, By-laws, Ordinances, Regulations, and Resource Management Plans can effectively guide development that balances the needs of humans and nature, preventing the unwanted consequences of unregulated growth.
An additional opportunity for planning is presented by the three Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) that have been designated within the boundaries of the Nashua River watershed. ACEC is a designation awarded by the MA Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. The nomination of an area for consideration is driven by local communities who identify a specific geographic region with high quality, unique, and significant ecological and cultural resources. The resources may be key to protecting drinking water and groundwater supplies, to providing habitat for threatened and state-listed species or native fisheries, or they may be vital to preventing pollution and flooding. ACECs may also have special geographic features or important cultural/historical landscapes. The three ACECs within the watershed are Central Nashua River Valley (12,900 acres) in Bolton, Harvard, Lancaster, and Leominster; Squannassit (37,450 acres) and Petapawag (25,630 acres) in the communities of Ashby, Ayer, Dunstable, Groton, Harvard, Lancaster, Lunenburg, Pepperell, Shirley, Townsend, and Tyngsboro.
ACEC designation does not supersede local zoning, alter land ownership, or prevent development; however, it does require closer scrutiny of projects within the ACEC that were already subject to state agency regulation or require a state permit in order to avoid or minimize negative impacts on these resources that have been identified as of significant importance. Local communities may also choose to create a Resource Management Plan to identify and prioritize concerns and opportunities to sustain the resources identified in the ACEC designation.