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Street water runnoff: Photo by Melissa BlanksteenState law requires at least one person on the wetlands commission of every town to get trained by the Department of Environmental Protection. But a new study shows not all municipalities are getting the training.

People who are on municipal wetlands commissions are usually volunteers. Part of their job is to decide whether to protect a property from development based on their understanding of the state’s scientific definition of a wetlands. The Council on Environmental Quality has issued a report that found the D.E.P. does a good job training people, but at least 30 cities and towns haven’t been trained

Karl Wagener is executive director of the CEQ

“We found conclusively that the towns that have complied with the law and had a staff person complete the DEP  training program have performed significantly better than the towns that don’t have a trained member  or staff person. That they’re more protective of wetlands when they’ve been through the training program.”

The report found more acres of wetlands were protected by municipalities that have received training.  A spokesperson for the DEP says the agency is doing everything it can to make training more available. The C.E.Q. recommends more state funding to hire at least two more people at the DEP to oversee municipal wetlands protection.