Sustainable Sites: Site Development: Protect or Restore Habitat (Credit 5.1) Forest Duff. The site is previously undeveloped forest land. The documents show limiting the site disturbance within the distances prescribed by the credit. The development consists of the building and associated walkways and parking. At those areas, excavation to allow for construction will produce substantial amounts of clean topsoil (forest duff consisting primarily of partially decomposed needles and debris from the surrounding hemlock forest) that aren\'t suitable for fill under the constructed areas. There are no local sites accepting this type of clean fill, and contractors are reporting that they may have to haul the material over 60 miles to the nearest dumping site. We have two questions. Are there ways to redistribute the excavated soil (forest duff) on site beyond the boundaries of the development area? This seems to violate the "undisturbed" nature of those areas. But it simply adds more forest duff to existing surrounding areas that consist of the same material. It also seems much more sustainable than trucking the soil offsite for long distances. In some ways it makes more sustainable sense to leave the soil onsite and risk losing the credit point but we would prefer not to lose that point. Is the subject of removal/relocation of excavated soil otherwise addressed under the Sustainable Sites category?
The credit intent is to provide habitat and promote biodiversity. It is unclear from the request the volume of excavated soil (forest duff) being considered. If the forest duff is redistributing, elsewhere on site, the credit could still be achievable, if the project team could provide documentation that this will not have any adverse effect on the site\'s ecosystem. An additional path to consider would be the creation of a contained compost pile, if appropriate to the site. Redistributing the forest duff constitutes grading and insufficient information is provided to determine the depth and volume of the fill being proposed. Grading in most cases would be considered disturbance of the undeveloped forest land and make those areas ineligible towards credit compliance. Placing fill, even if native material, could have negative impacts on the root zones of surrounding native vegetation. For credit consideration, the applicant would need to provide further documentation from a qualified professional outlining how the means of placement of material would have no impact on the native area, and a statement that the redistribution of forest duff fill would have no adverse impact on the site\'s ecosystem. Applicable Internationally.