Title L, Water Management and Protection

Project approval by the department shall be in the form of a permit, a copy of which the applicant shall post in a secured manner in a prominent place at the site of the approved project. The department shall mail a copy of such permit to the local governing body of the municipal…

The commissioner is empowered to impose an administrative fine of up to $5,000 for each violation, irrespective of the duration of violation, upon any person who violates any provision of this chapter. This fine is appealable under RSA 21-O:5-a, V. Any administrative fine imposed…

I. Whoever recklessly or knowingly fails, neglects or refuses to comply with this chapter, rules adopted under this chapter, an order or condition of a permit issued under this chapter, or recklessly or knowingly misrepresents any material fact in connection with any activities r…

The director of the division of forests and lands, department of natural and cultural resources, or his authorized agents, may issue a written cease and desist order against any timber operation in violation of this chapter. Any such violation may be enjoined by the superior cour…

I. Whoever fails, neglects or refuses to comply with this chapter or rules adopted under this chapter, or an order or condition of a permit issued under this chapter, or misrepresents any material fact made in connection with any activity regulated or prohibited by this chapter, …

No person who acquires property, by any means, more than 2 years after an activity constituting a violation of this chapter has been completed, shall be subject to an enforcement action under this chapter for such violation, provided such person allows restoration of impacted are…

I. (a) Any municipality, by its conservation commission, or, in the absence of a conservation commission, the planning board, or, in the absence of a planning board, the local governing body, may undertake to designate, map, and document prime wetlands lying within its boundaries…

The department shall report annually to the wetlands council on the wetlands program. The report shall include, but not be limited to, the status of the wetlands program including program performance, rules, and funding and the status of the Clean Water Act section 404 program in…

No person shall place or cause to be placed any fill in any area below the mean high water level of any public waters or below the artificially-created high water level of publicly-owned bodies of water in this state with the intent or with the effect of creating or forming fille…

The governor and council, upon petition and only upon the recommendation of the department, may, for just consideration, grant to an owner of shoreline on public waters the right to place fill in the bed of such pond before the owner's shoreline. Every petition to place fill in t…

If any person places fill in the bed of public waters or below the artificially-created high water level of public-owned water bodies except as provided in this subdivision, such person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor if a natural person, or guilty of a felony if any other perso…

Any payment received by the state as determined by the governor and council under the provisions of RSA 482-A:17 for the grant of the right to place fill in the bed of a great pond shall be paid over to the state treasurer and shall be available for general revenue of the state.

In this chapter: I. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of environmental services. I-a. "Council" means the wetlands council established in RSA 21-O:5-a. I-b. "Department" means the department of environmental services. II. "Division" means the division of water, department of …

The petitioner for a right to place fill in public waters shall make a deposit to the department of $50 with each such petition. This payment shall be for expenses of publication, mailing and posting of notices by the department and for the expenses of hiring a hearing site, if a…

I. No person shall excavate, remove, or dredge any bank, flat, marsh, swamp, or lake bed that lies below the natural mean high water level of any public waters of this state, except as provided in this subdivision. For the purposes of this subdivision, "public waters" are defined…

The governor and council, upon petition and upon the recommendation of the department, may, for just consideration, grant to an owner of a shoreline on public waters the right to excavate, remove, or dredge any bank, flat, marsh, swamp or lake bed before the owner's shoreline. Ev…

I. The governor and council, upon petition and upon the recommendation of the department, may grant to the governing body of a municipality the right to remove submerged logs from the portion of the bed of any great pond that is located within the municipality's boundaries as del…

Any person who violates any provision of this subdivision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor if a natural person, or guilty of a felony if any other person. Any person may be compelled to return said land to its original condition by the superior court upon a petition brought by th…

Any payment received by the state as determined by the governor and council under the provisions of this subdivision shall be paid over to the state treasurer and shall be deposited in the general funds of the state.

The petitioner shall make a deposit of $50 with each petition to pay for the expenses of publication, mailing, and posting of notices, and for the expenses of hiring a hearing site, if a hearing outside of Concord is necessary. If these expenses are more than $50, the department …

I. No person shall construct any structure suitable for use as a dwelling if the structure or any part of the structure extends beyond the shoreline of any public water or publicly-owned water body. II. No person shall convert or modify any existing structure in order to make the…

I. Any boathouse constructed after July 1, 2025, and located over public waters shall not exceed a structural height of 18 feet, have no second floor, and minimize storage to accommodate only those items, such as life-jackets, paddles, and rigging, reasonably related to the use o…

Any person who violates any provision of RSA 482-A:26 or 482-A:26-a shall be required to remove the structure or portion of the structure constructed, reconstructed, repaired, converted, or modified in violation of said section and shall be subject to the civil, criminal, and oth…

In lieu of other forms of compensatory mitigation, the department may accept payment for an unavoidable loss of aquatic resource functions and values from impacts to resources protected under this chapter.

I. There is hereby established the aquatic resource compensatory mitigation fund into which payments made under this subdivision shall be deposited. The fund shall be a separate, nonlapsing fund continually appropriated to the department to be used only as specified in this subdi…

I. (a) No person shall excavate, remove, fill, dredge, or construct any structures in or on any bank, flat, marsh, or swamp in and adjacent to any waters of the state without a permit from the department. Unless otherwise specified in rules adopted by the commissioner pursuant to…

For freshwater and tidal wetlands losses, the in lieu payment shall be the sum of: I. The cost that would have been incurred if a wetland of the same type was constructed at the ratios adopted by the department based on a price of $65,000 per acre of wetland created, to be adjust…

For stream or shoreline resource losses, the in lieu payment shall be the sum of: I. The cost that would have been incurred if a stream of the same type was restored at the ratios adopted by the department, based on a price of $200 per linear foot of channel or bank impacts or bo…

For losses to sand dunes, undeveloped portions of duly-established 100-foot buffers of designated prime wetlands, and undeveloped tidal buffer zones, the in-lieu payment shall be the sum of: I. The cost that would have been incurred if a resource of the same type was restored at …

The commissioner shall adopt rules under RSA 541-A relative to: I. Identification of appropriate situations under which in lieu payments may be made. The criteria in RSA 482-A:28 shall be the minimum requirements for projects eligible for in lieu payments. II. The method of calcu…

I. There is established a site selection committee for the purpose of identifying projects to be funded from the aquatic resource compensatory mitigation fund. II. The committee shall consist of the following members: (a) The commissioner of the department of environmental servic…

The department shall submit a biennial report 60 days after the close of each odd-numbered fiscal year, to the fiscal committee of the general court, the chairperson of the house resources, recreation and development committee, and the chairperson of the senate environment and wi…

Any individual or public or private entity may establish a wetland mitigation bank, provided such bank complies with all federal and state regulations and all requirements of the Army Corps of Engineers.

The commissioner shall regulate the cutting of native aquatic vegetation on submerged lands in public waters or public-owned water bodies regulated under RSA 482-A:16. The commissioner shall adopt rules to effect the requirements of this section in furtherance of the purpose enum…

Without limiting RSA 482-A:3, the waters and adjacent areas within this state to which this chapter applies are defined as follows: I. Wherever the tide ebbs and flows, this chapter shall apply to all lands submerged or flowed by mean high tide as locally determined, any sand dun…

I. The department may deny the petition or may require the installation of bulkheads, barriers, proper retention or containment structures, or both, to prevent subsequent fill runoff back into waters or other protective measures. II. To perform its duties under this chapter, it s…

The department is authorized to solicit and receive any gifts, grants or donations made for the efforts of the department under the provisions of this chapter and to disburse and administer the same through the department.

The department shall provide a reasonable opportunity for public comment on proposals under RSA 482-A:3 and shall hold a public hearing for projects with significant impact on the resources protected by this chapter or of substantial public interest. The department shall notify b…

Like notice shall be mailed to all known abutting landowners, supplemented by reasonable notice by newspaper publications to those unknown, as may be ordered by the department.