Surface Water Quality Committee approves $300 federal review for Heard Pond herbicide

WAYLAND -- December 17, 2024, Wayland panel pays $300 for federal review to unlock Heard Pond herbicide permit. The Surface Water Quality Committee voted 5-0 Tuesday to have contractor SOLitude Lake Management file a Massachusetts Endangered Species Act review with the National Park Service, which oversees the Sudbury River as a national heritage area. Chair Thomas Klem said the Conservation Commission gave the committee "thumbs sideways" two weeks earlier and continued its hearing to Jan. 8 pending federal input on downstream impacts. Klem chose the $300 MESA route over a no-cost notification or a $50 informational request because it returns a substantive response within 20 to 30 days. Member Thomas J. Largy noted the herbicide Clearcast is already used upstream in Saxonville, at Stearns Mill Pond, and by U.S. Fish and Wildlife along the Sudbury. The Heard Pond matter is now expected to carry into February.