                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

PROHIBITED VEGETATION; CERTAIN WETLAND VEGETATION ALLOWED (§ 10.1-609.2)

A. Dam owners shall not permit the growth of trees and other woody vegetation
and shall remove any such vegetation from the slopes and crest of embankments
and the emergency spillway area and within a distance of 25 feet from the toe of
the embankment and abutments of the dam.

B. The provisions of subsection A shall not apply to wetland vegetation,
including woody shrubs, trees, and plants, that is growing on a permanent
aquatic or safety bench that has been added to the upstream embankment slope of
a regulated impounding structure if such vegetation is associated with a wetland
mitigation bank or in-lieu fee site that (i) has been approved by the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers and the Department of Environmental Quality and (ii) is the
subject of a restrictive covenant or other permanent instrument that
specifically protects the particular wetland vegetation from removal and is
recorded among the land records of the locality. However, the Department may
require the dam owner to remove trees by flush cutting unless the Department
determines on the basis of site-specific information that the grubbing of roots
is necessary to protect the integrity of the dam in a particular case.

C. Owners failing to maintain their dam in accordance with this section shall be
subject to enforcement pursuant to &#xA7; 10.1-613.

HISTORY: 2006, c. 30; 2019, c. 148.