Abstract
THE INCORPORATION OF THE VISUAL-CULTURAL VALUES OF INLAND WETLANDS INTO GOVERNMENTAL LAND-USE DECISIONS IS EXPLORED FOR MASSACHUSETTS. PREVIOUS STUDIES WHICH HAVE SOUGHT TO IDENTIFY, ANALYZE, AND CLASSIFY WORKABLE INLAND WETLAND TYPES AND SURROUNDING LANDSCAPE TYPES ARE REVIEWED AND A GENERAL FORM IS SUGGESTED FOR MASSACHUSETTS WETLANDS. VISUAL-CULTURAL VALUES INCLUDE THE VISUAL, RECREATIONAL, AND EDUCATIONAL VALUES OF THE WETLANDS TO SOCIETY. AN INLAND WETLAND DECISION MODEL, UTILIZING PREVIOUSLY COLLECTED DATA, IS DEVELOPED TO DETERMINE PRIORITIES FOR WETLAND PRESERVATION. THE MODEL IS ELIMINATIVE, IN THAT IT ELIMINATES A WETLAND FROM DEVELOPMENT IF IT RECEIVES TOP PRIORITY IN ANY OF THREE EVALUATION LEVELS. AT LEVEL 1, ARE WETLANDS IDENTIFIED AS OUTSTANDING NATURAL AREAS, HAVING HIGH REGIONAL VALUE OR PLAYING AN IMPORTANT PART IN THE OVERALL WETLAND SYSTEM WHICH ARE RATED TOP PRIORITY. IF NOT ELIMINATED AT THIS STAGE, THE WETLAND IS NEXT RATED AND RANKED BY ITS PHYSICAL DIMENSION AND CHARACTERISTICS, UTILIZING 10 NATURAL RESOURCE VARIABLES. A COMPOSITE SCORE COMPOSED OF A WEIGHTED SUM OF THE TEN VARIABLES IS DEVELOPED TO RANK EACH WETLAND. THE THIRD LEVEL OF EVALUATION CONSIDERS THE CULTURAL VALUES, I.E., ACCESSIBILITY, LOCATION NEAR SCHOOLS, ETC., OF THE WETLANDS. THE VERSATILITY OF THIS APPROACH TO MANY DECISION LEVELS IS DISCUSSED. (SCHROEDER-WISCONSIN)