Glossary of Terms

Biodiversity: the variety of all forms of life in an area or region, from genes to species to ecosystems.

BioMap Core Habitat: Terrestrial areas that are important habitat for biodiversity in Massachusetts.

BioMap Supporting Natural Landscape: Areas that are important to the biodiversity of Massachusetts, that buffer endangered species habitat and that provide habitat to more common species.

BioMap: A map, produced by the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program in 2001, of habitat for all the terrestrial native species of Massachusetts.

Carbon sink: A natural (such as a forest) or manmade reservoir (injection of carbon dioxide into underground aquifers/deposits) that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period.

Circuit Riders: A person that works, usually within the non-profit community, to address a lack of knowledge in a specific area of expertise. For instance, “Smart Growth” Circuit Riders are helping some conservation non-profit groups extend assistance to surrounding towns in crafting smart growth zoning bylaws and overlay districts. Circuit Riders might also focus on the technology needs/shortcomings of a particular non-profit.

Cluster development: As applied to residential development, it is the grouping of a development's homes on a portion of the available land, reserving a significant amount of the site as protected open space.

Community Preservation Act: Legislation passed in 2000 that allows municipalities to raise taxes, matched by the state government, for land conservation, historic preservation, affordable housing, and recreational facilities. For more information visit the Community Preservation Coalition website.

Conservation Assessment and Prioritization System (CAPS): A computer model, created by a team of researchers at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, that produces a map of  the ecological integrity of lands and waters across relatively large geographic areas. Ecological integrity is defined below. The model takes into account factors such as: habitat loss, domestic predators (cats and dogs), edge predators (such as raccoons, skunks, and cowbirds), invasive plants, and fragmentation of the landscape. Visit the UMASS CAPS program website for more information.

Datalayer: Information represented visually by an overlay on a map.

Direct impacts of development: The loss of ecological integrity directly under the footprint of development. The “footprint” is the home or building, the driveway, and the area in the immediate vicinity of the building.

Ecological integrity:The ability of an area to support plants and animals and the natural processes necessary to sustain them over the long term. By conserving intact areas of high ecological integrity, we can conserve most (but not necessarily all) species and ecological processes.

Environmental Bond: The Environmental Bond is a major law that will provide $1.7 billion in capital funds for vital state environmental programs through 2013.  Highlights from the Environmental Bond include:

• $50 million a year for state land protection programs
• Funding for Department of Conservation and Recreation state and urban parks which have a $1.7 billion backlog of essential repairs and improvements
• A new state income tax credit for landowners who voluntarily gift qualifying land to a municipality, the state or a nonprofit conservation organization
• Capital funding to protect and restore freshwater, coastal and marine resources including community drinking water supplies, natural habitat for wildlife, and dam removal and repair, and
• Funding for state environmental agencies to prepare for and manage climate change impacts that are already causing habitat destruction, water quality degradation and other problems

Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA): EEA is a Secretariat that oversees the Commonwealth’s six environmental, natural resource and energy regulatory agencies. Massachusetts is the first state in the nation to combine energy and environmental agencies under one Cabinet secretary.  The agencies are Department of Agricultural Resources, Department of Conservation and Recreation, Department of Energy Resources, Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Fish and Game, and the Department of Public Utilities. For more information visit the EEA website.

Green Communities Act: The bill requires a reduction of the state's total energy consumption by at least 10 percent by 2017, encourages development of renewable energy resources by requiring that 20 percent of the state’s electricity be from renewable sources by 2017, and on a smaller scale offers an income tax deduction for hybrid vehicles and tax incentives for green buildings. Controversial pieces include the movement of the Renewable Energy Trust from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborate to the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, and an amendment that opens up Massachusetts Ocean Sanctuaries to siting of all renewable energy facilities, including large wind farms, regardless of any ocean management plan.

IEI (see Index of Ecological Integrity)

IEI-Acres: The Index of Ecological Integrity (IEI) depicts the value of a given point on the landscape relative to others based on its ability to support plants, animals, and the natural processes that sustain them. To facilitate this comparison of one area with another, units called IEI-acres are used throughout CAPS analysis. One IEI-acre is equivalent to an acre of cells—roughly five cells—with a perfect score of 1. One IEI-acre can also be made up of 2 acres of cells each with a score of 0.5.

For example, consider the town of Townsend with a total land area of 21,100 acres.
In 1971, Townsend had an IEI score of 12,000, i.e., the sum of the cells in the town’s 21,100 acres added up to 12,000 IEI-acres. By 2005, Townsend’s score had dropped to 8,700 IEI-acres, which can be thought of as a loss of 3,300 acres of land with high ecological integrity. This loss occurred throughout the entire acreage of the town rather than on just 3,300 acres; but it enables comparison of Townsend with other towns and allows calculation of the change in IEI over time.

The IEI-acre has been used by the CAPS research team to estimate how much land must be protected in order to mitigate or offset the impacts of development projects such as highway extensions.

Index of Ecological Integrity (IEI): The number, between 0 and 1, that is generated by the CAPS analysis. It reflects the ability of an area to support plants and animals and the natural processes necessary to sustain them over the long term. An area with a score of zero has no value and a score of 1 is the highest function in the state.

Indirect impacts of development: The loss of ecological integrity in the still natural areas adjacent to new development.

Land Use Partnership Act (LUPA): Pending state legislation that would reform Massachusetts zoning laws. LUPA would provide communities with new flexibility in zoning and permitting to foster housing affordability and open-space protection, and close loopholes that undermine planning efforts. It would also improve local regulatory procedures, streamline reviews, and promote mediation of appeals. In addition, LUPA would allow municipalities to opt-in to a higher performance standard and thereby receive new tools for directing development.

Living Waters: A map, produced by the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program in 2003, of habitat for freshwater aquatic native species of Massachusetts.

Living Waters Core Habitat:  Lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams that are important habitat for freshwater biodiversity in Massachusetts.

Living Waters Supporting Natural Watershed:  Terrestrial areas that have immediate hydrologic connection to Living Waters Core Habitat.

Massachusetts Conservation Mapping Assistance Partnership Program (MACMAPP): A partnership program between GIS software vendor Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) and the Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs (EOEEA). Through this program, conservation nonprofit organizations and municipal conservation commissions can obtain the latest ArcView GIS software from ESRI along with training and documentation. In addition, GIS data will be available through the Office of Geographic and Environmental Information (MassGIS) in EOEEA. MassGIS is providing overall coordination for the program, from reviewing applications to providing training in creating and using open space data.  Visit the MACMAPP website for more information.

Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program: The state agency, within the Department of Fish and Game, that maintains a database of rare and endangered species observations, and conducts environmental review under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act and Massachusetts Endangered Species Act.

Massachusetts State Wildlife Action Plan: The Plan was written by MassWildlife and is a comprehensive document that will help guide wildlife conservation decision making for Massachusetts' wildlife. It contains a brief history of the MDFW and past successful efforts to conserve the biodiversity of the Commonwealth, a review of the landscape changes which have affected wildlife populations, an explanation of the process used to identify the habitats and species in the greatest need of conservation, and it also identifies the primary strategies needed to conserve these species and their habitats. For more information visit the MassWildlife website.

MassGIS Protected Recreation and Open Space datalayer: The protected and recreational open space datalayer contains the boundaries of conservation lands and outdoor recreational facilities in Massachusetts. The associated database contains relevant information about each parcel, including ownership, level of protection, public accessibility, assessor’s map and lot numbers, and related legal interests held on the land, including conservation restrictions. Conservation and outdoor recreational facilities owned by federal, state, county, municipal, and nonprofit enterprises are included in this datalayer.  Not all lands in this layer are protected in perpetuity, though nearly all have at least some level of protection.

MassGIS: This is the Commonwealth's Office of Geographic and Environmental Information, within the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Through MassGIS, the Commonwealth has created a comprehensive, statewide database of spatial information for environmental planning and management.  The state legislature has established MassGIS as the official state agency assigned to the collection, storage and dissemination of geographic data. Visit the MassGIS website for more information.

McMansions: Slang for an extremely large new homes.

NHESP: Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program. A program of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife.See the NHESP website for more information.

Open Space Residential Design (OSRD): Open Space Residential Design (OSRD) is a method of planning residential development that conserves open space in a new subdivision. The same number of homes as would be permissible in a conventionally-zoned subdivision are allowed using OSRD. Municipalities using a "Special Permit" version of OSRD can allow density bonuses if desired.

Open Space Wiki: MassGIS has created a new way to submit information about protected lands in the state. It is called the Open Space Wiki and it should make it much easier for small land trusts with no GIS experience to submit to MassGIS the location, size, and additional information about newly protected parcels.

Site plan review: The review, by town/city Planning Boards, required prior to approval being given to certain types of construction projects.

Sprawl Danger Zone: Municipalities in this zone are not the fastest growing in the state, but they are experiencing increased growth rates that warrant attention. Towns in this zone have had significant negative ecological impacts since the 1970s and these impacts are accelerating recently. Most significantly, there are still substantial areas of regional conservation interest that need to be protected.

Sprawl Frontier: The areas of Massachusetts that experienced development at the highest rate from 1999 through 2005.

Statewide Conservation Plan: Endorsed in 2003 by former EOEA Secretary Herzfelder, this plan was not actively implemented during the Romney Administration. It called for 50,000 acres of protection each year in order to meet its goals.

Suburban-style zoning: One- to two-acre zoning that spreads development across the landscape and consumes more land than dense development.

Transfer of Development Rights (TDR): Such programs allow landowners to sever the building (aka development) rights from a particular piece of property and sell them. Purchasers are usually other landowners who want to increase the density of their developments. Local governments may also buy development rights in order to control price, design details or restrict growth. TDR programs strive for two main goals. First, communities can use TDR programs to preserve open space, agriculture, historic buildings or housing. And TDR programs make such preservation more equitable and politically palatable by compensating landowners who lose the right to develop their property. For more information, read a Cornell University article on TDR.

Zoning freezes: Massachusetts landowners and developers concerned about the potential for unfavorable changes in local zoning requirements should be familiar with the statutory “zoning freeze” protections available under Massachusetts law, G.L. c. 40A §6.1 Before learning about a proposed zoning change, a developer may already have incurred considerable pre-construction investment, over a period of years, in a project that conforms to current zoning requirements.

Whether a zoning amendment is intended to thwart the proposed development, or its detrimental effects are merely incidental, a savvy project proponent can often invoke a “freeze” provision to preserve the zoning status quo. A developer may be able to save the project as originally intended by staying alert for proposed changes to the local zoning requirements, and by knowing, planning for and taking timely advantage of the available “freezes.” (The above information was copied from this article from the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties).