(1) A natural buffer strip must be maintained between the working edge of an excavation and any protected natural resource as defined in the Comprehensive Plan and by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Excavation activities conducted within 100 feet of a protected natural resource must comply with the applicable permit requirement of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The width requirements for natural buffer strips are as follows:
(a) A natural buffer strip at least 100 feet wide must be maintained between the working edge of the excavation and the normal high-water line of a great pond classified as GPA or a river flowing to a great pond classified as GPA.
(b) A natural buffer strip at least 75 feet wide must be maintained between the working edge of the excavation and any other water body, river, stream, brook, or significant wildlife habitat contained within a freshwater wetland or a freshwater wetland consisting of or containing:
[1] Under normal circumstances, at least 20,000 square feet of aquatic vegetation, emergent marsh vegetation or open water, except for artificial ponds or impoundments; or
[2] Peat lands dominated by shrubs, sedges and sphagnum moss.
(2) For purposes of this subsection, the width of a natural buffer strip is measured from the upland edge of floodplain wetlands; if no floodplain wetlands are present, the width of the natural buffer strip is measured from the normal high-water mark of a great pond, river, stream or brook or the upland edge of a freshwater wetland.
See
Article 6: Mineral Extraction for detailed information.
