The Shoreland Water Quality Protection Act, originally named the Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act (CSPA), was enacted into law in the 1991 session of the Legislature. The act establishes minimum standards for the subdivision, use, and development of shorelands adjacent to the state's public water bodies. On July 1, 2005, Senate Bill 83 established a commission to study the effectiveness of the comprehensive shoreland protection act. Among other things, the commission was charged with assessing land-use impacts around the state's public waters; size, type, and location standards pertaining to structures as outlined in the CSPA; shoreland buffer and setback standards; and nonconforming use, lot, and structure standards.(From the NH DES website).

General Information
For general information on the Shoreland Protection Water Quality Program, including permits, RSAs, and DES contact information, please click here.

Permits
If you think you might need a Shoreland Protection Permit, please complete the survey here and follow the directions.

Exemption Application
If a town is sufficiently urbanized to make the Shoreland Protection a moot point or only as a tool to encourage redevelopment near a river, NH DES has a Shoreland Exemption program.  Wilton has compiled an application but has not submitted it.  Please click here for the application. 

Exemption Response
You can find the letter from the Conservation Commission here.
You can find the letter from the Souhegan River Local Advisory Committee here.

If you want to share your response to the Shoreland Protection Exemption application, please contact [email protected].