Removal of trees with shoreland protection zone
 

I noticed that the shoreland protection zone allows the removal of trees that are diseased or safety hazards without counting against the 50% limit. If a large birch tree is only 6 inches from the roof, does this constitute a safety hazard? Who makes the determination? Do you need to obtain permission or permit before cutting any trees down? Does the installation of a house, septic or driveway count against the 50% limit?

Belkin

I would check with the town hall in your town to get a better answer for that.

NO - The installation of a House, Septic and Driveway to not count against the 50%. You will however have to have your property surveyed to show the location, size and species of each tree. The house, septic and driveway have set backs. I believe it's 10 to 25 feet. I just had a plan completed by Tom Varney in Alton for the shoreline protection act.

There are no permits. For the most part the towns don't care. Enforcement cost money and brings in no tax dollars. McMansions bring in lots of tax dollars.

OK if you clearcut your lot you can end up in trouble. But there are so many holes in this law it's almost useless. You can cut all the trees by the lake and leave the trees in the back of the lot and you are legal.

Who is going to keep records of tree removal for decades? Twenty years from now how will anybody prove I took down a tree? Plans will be "lost" or changed.

The rich will still do what they want and pay the fine if they are caught.

As Island lover states this is a hard law to enforce. And myself I did a lot of looking into last year, as I am in the process of trying to improve the health of the trees on my lot. Now a survey was mentioned by buy another poster here, and I have heard many people mention this in the past. If I was building a new house on the property I would probably have this done. However I was never able to find anything that said you had to do it. Now there are a few legal eagles on the Forum, and if it is a law to have a survey done before taking down a single tree I am sure they will post it. My advice would be that if you only looking at a tree or two, and especially if you are hiring a contractor to come take them down, I wouldn't worry about it. The contractor should warn you if you are going to far.

This law in my mind is really meant to keep people form clear cutting lots, and from taking all the shoreline trees down which prevent errosion. which come to think of it in another post here something was mentioned about clearing all the water front trees... This is false.... that would be a no no....

A tree 6 inches from your roof edge would be considered exempt from the basal area calculation currently required by the Shoreland Protection Act. Even if were not exempt it would hopefully not account for 50% of the basal area of trees existing on your lot. Please note that Laconia allows no tree removal within a certian distance to the water (I believe 50 ft) and Moultonborough has a separate standard also which is completely different from the states.

Here is the states position on Tree Cutting. I would be very careful what and how you do things around the waters edge.. Many folks looking around for people that are not following the rules. The 6" tree next to house can be removed without any issues. Please read below and review the link for clarification of policies on Shoreline Protection.

http://www.des.state.nh.us/cspa/

Can I cut trees or remove stumps and vegetation within the protected shoreland?

The protected shoreland extends from the reference line landward 250'. Within the protected shoreland is a natural woodland buffer. The “natural woodland buffer” extends 150' landward from the reference line. There are restrictions on vegetation removal in the natural woodland buffer. The restrictions per RSA 483-B:9 are:

Not more than a maximum of 50% of the basal area of trees, and a maximum of 50% of the total number of saplings shall be removed for any purpose in a 20-year period. A healthy well distributed stand of trees, saplings, shrubs, ground cover, and their living, undamaged root systems shall be left in place.


Stumps and their root systems that are located within 50' of the reference line, shall be left intact in the ground, unless specifically approved by the department, pursuant to RSA 482-A.
Structures within the natural woodland buffer are afforded openings for building construction that are excluded when computing the percentage limitations listed above.

The openings for building construction are:

For primary structures constructed behind the primary building line, the construction envelope shall not exceed 25' from the exterior edge of the footprint of the structure.
For primary structures that fall partially within or entirely within the primary building line, the envelope shall not exceed 15'.
For accessory structures, or water-dependent structures, the construction envelope is 10' from the exterior edge of the structure.
This means vegetation can be removed but only up to the limits specified above in #1 and #2 and within the building envelopes. The understory of shrubs and herbaceous ground cover may not be removed in any amount outside of the building envelopes.

Vegetation is a key component in preserving the ecological integrity of the shoreland. The canopy created by trees, shrubs and herbaceous vegetation, moderates the impact of heavy rains, shades the shoreline thereby reducing water temperature, and produces organic matter and woody debris essential to shoreland ecology. Root systems help give soil structure, help hold soil in place, direct rainfall down into the soil instead of over the soil, and can extract nutrients and some contaminates from the soil. Vegetation is also critical element of wildlife habitat. For these reasons, DES strongly recommends that landowners leave as much vegetation in place as possible.

Vegetation removal from areas outside a building construction envelope should be done very carefully and extra care must be taken to ensure a healthy well distributed stand of all vegetative layers remain. It is a violation of the law punishable by fines to exceed the limits and prohibitions of the natural woodland buffer.

What is basal area?
Basal area (BA) is the area of the tree taken at a height of 4½ feet from the ground. Basal area is expressed in square feet. (To visualize this, imagine cutting the tree at 4½ feet. The cross section of the top of the stump, would be the basal area.). BA measurements are taken from a point on the tree 4½ feet from the ground (this is commonly referred to as diameter at breast height or “DBH.” If your tree is on a slope, take the measurement from the high side of the slope.

Measurements are made with calipers or diameter tapes, or simple measuring tapes.

Using a standard measuring tape:

Determine the Circumference (“C”) of the tree at 4½ feet from the ground.

Calculate: BA = C x C x 0 .07958. For example, a tree having a circumference of 36 inches has a BA of 36”x 36” x 0.07958 = 103”2. To express this in feet, divide by 144. (103”/144 = 0.716 sq. ft.).

Using a diameter tape or calipers (where “d” is the diameter in inches):

BAfeet = d x d x 0.005454

For example, where the diameter is 10 inches, then 10” x 10” x 0.005454 = .54 sq. ft.

kimdaved
Do you have a link to the DES where this info is located??? The link in the post does not work?
Thanks Much,
-Bill

Location. location, location
 

Location. location, location. Re: installation of house driveway or septic. These all require approved plans/permits, often from both DES and your town. DES will often refer an application to the local Conservation Commission for a local opinion. Most CC's meet once a month, so this can add time to the permit process. It should be free to call somebody on the CC and have them walk the property with you. Note that a driveway can be either pervious or impervious and location and drainage are important. Same with a patio.

For most purposes, grass/lawn is not good ground cover and the CC may be getting calls from your neighbors.

That link is far to old for someone to even think that it would still be active....

The most recent DES website is: https://www.des.nh.gov/

From there you should be able to find the content you desire...

The easiest way to find out if you need a permit for tree removal is to ask the local professionals about it.
I retired a few months ago and moved to Oahu. There are palms on my property that are more than 50 feet tall and that's too tall for me to trim myself. The arborist from the company I hired checked the trees and told me that one of the palms was dead and that it should be removed. I didn't get any permits for the removal, and they did it the same day. If anyone on Oahu Island needs the services of an arborist, I used Oahu Tree Trimming.

The tree in question is probably dead now anyway.