Filling Wetlands Costly for Vermont Dairy Farmers
BOSTON, Massachusetts, September 8, 2008 (ENS) – Converting 41 acres of wetlands to corn and hay production areas on their Richford, Vermont dairy farm without a permit has cost Mark and Amanda St. Pierre more than $100,000.
Under the terms of a legal settlement with the U.S. EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice, the St. Pierres will pay a civil penalty, restore damaged wetlands, and perform additional environmental projects
The St. Pierres’ 41 acre wetlands violation was more than double the largest permitted fill in Vermont in almost 15 years, according to the EPA.
An EPA investigation concluded that the dairy farmers filled slightly more than 40 acres of wetlands between 1998 and 2002, during the course of expanding forage acres to support the dairy herd on their Pleasant Valley Farm.
The St. Pierres did not seek or obtain environmental review of or permits for these actions, violating the federal Clean Water Act by illegally discharging dredged and fill material into 41 acres of wetlands and a stream.
“Losing more than 40 acres of wetlands in New England is significant,” said Robert Varney, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office.
“Wetlands are incredibly productive and important ecological areas,” he said. “All property owners can be good stewards of the land by following appropriate steps before altering wetlands, to ensure that these valuable areas are protected.”
The wetlands filled were located in the watersheds of the Missisquoi and Pike Rivers, both of which flow into Lake Champlain. These wetlands likely helped stabilize stream banks, detained nutrients and sediments, filtered pollutants and helped absorb flood waters, Varney said.
The settlement requires complete restoration of 29 acres of wetlands, while allowing the St. Pierres to retain 12 acres of wetlands that had been converted to hay fields at several different sites in the course of squaring off existing hay fields and where the impacts of converting the wetlands were minimal.
The St. Pierres must provide compensatory mitigation for the acreage that will not be restored, including restoration of wetlands, currently in corn production, within the floodplain of the Pike River.
The supplemental project under the settlement will require the St. Pierres to restore approximately 9.4 acres of wetlands, currently in corn production and adjacent to the Missisquoi River, which are next to two of the sites filled by the St. Pierres.
The settlement also requires these additional restored areas to be protected through a conservation easement.
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