Beavers, Boards, and Bureaucracy: Lessons from an Urban Wetlands Permit
Nick McGuire
Foresight Conservation, Inc.
Andover, ME
The principles of hydrology may be the same between a built environment and a more natural setting, but permitting urban projects often becomes more of an exercise in psychology. The purpose of this presentation is to share tips and techniques gleaned from a recent permitting effort in Somersworth, NH, that had the full complement of urban complications: an abutting HOA, threat of property damage, beavers, and municipally owned land. The project itself was a simple culvert replacement and installation of an auxiliary spillway on a man-made pond, but it triggered a full state/federal wetlands impact permit. The project is located on a Natural Resources Conservation Service—Wetland Reserve Easement property owned by the City of Somersworth. This project will be used as the framework to discuss successful ways to organize communication to a large group of abutters, maintaining consistent messaging, reframing complaints to avoid protests, and additional due diligence in an urban setting to ensure a smooth permitting process.
About Nick McGuire
Nick McGuire is a Restoration Project Manager at Foresight Conservation, Inc. and has worked in wetlands ranging from Pacific Northwest steelhead streams to New England bogs. The primary focus of this work has been restoring and stewarding NRCS wetland easements in partnership with the NRCS. Prior to Foresight, Nick worked with the USFS and Colorado State Forest Service on western riparian systems and major urban drinking water projects. He holds a Bachelor's from Montana State University in Natural Resources Management and a Master's in Ecology and Environmental Psychology from New York University. In addition to field work, he has published academic research on environmental decision-making and co-authored a textbook on climate change.