Citizens can protect their community by insisting that environmental impact studies (EIS) have an on site inventory during the appropriate time of the year. Most developers do wildlife inventories during the winter and declare that they saw no threatened or endangered species - of course not! Most of the species had migrated out of the area or are hibernating! Many plant species can not be identified in the winter. Unless local laws change then the developers will continue to get away with this.

I have fought hard and have been successful in passing local ordinances that require developers to do wildlife inventories during the breeding and growing seasons. I have fought hard to enact other local ordinances that protect our stream corridors, ridge lines, require tree removal and replacement plans, and improved our landscaping ordinances to include more native nut and berry producing plant species rather than introduced or ornamental species. I document all threatened and endangered species in my community and send my findings to the state Natural Heritage Program and submit my own plant and wildlife inventories to prove the unique habitats and the species that depend on those habitats at our local planning board level. When I come up with an inventory of over two hundred plants, birds and animals and their so called environmentalist can only produce a dozen species for their inventory - who do you think is not doing their job? I fight for the wildlife because their voices can not be heard in the public hearings.

The developers pay their environmentalists to not find important species. Local inventories are a valuable tool for the local environmental commissions and the planning boards.

We can act to improve our local ordinances, protect the environment, and document endangered species in our area.