Friday, Jason and I met with the DEP. The rep for our area and a fairly new rep for DEP. She was in training, or at least he was showing her what to look for.
We started at the Fossel washout. They determined that was a stream, so a Permit by Rule applied. This is their lowest permit, and easiest to get.
We continued to the next two locations I had identified for this years work. Nothing to be concerned with at either location, except that we have to keep track of the square footage of the wetland area we disturb at both locations. Minimal. We are allowed 4300 sq ft. Above that, we will need to apply for through a bigger permit.
Next we walked to the slide. I am amazed that neither the Army Corps or the DEP are concerned about that. No permit required. We just need to be mindfull of runoff, and control erosion.
We proceded North. Yet another spot I identified as wanting a small cross culvert. Same as before. Keep track of the square footage of wetland.
Next, we arrived at a pinch point, as Jason calls it. This is a location of a slide that happened after the railroad shut down, but before it was logged in the 50's 60's. The roadbed slid into the brook. We want to do minimal work here but due to the location, we need to have a larger permit. It will be scrutinized more by the DEP, and we will have a lot more prep in the permit apllication itself.
Once past this pinch point, we were back to permit by rule culvert installation.
We were in for another surprise as we worked our way to the bridge. The ditch on the East side is classified as a stream. We are within 25 feet of that "stream" for approximately 500 feet. This also meets the criteria for the larger permit.
We then arrived at the bridge site. A brief review of what Army Corps had said and then we listened to Lucien, the DEP rep. "Permit by Rule" he said, for the bridge crossing. Jason almost sighed audibly. What a relief.
So after our arrival back at the house (DEP headed back to their office) Jason and I started brain storming. And we are still talking about ideas. Jason has locked onto an idea he wants to check into more that may be the best, simplest, and most cost effective way of ensuring we reach 218.
I am glad we had this walk and talk. It was very informative, and we learned a lot. Now to get things going for our first permit needed for this year.
