WESTPORT — The town’s Conservation Department this month issued the most citations to local property owners for violating regulations under its jurisdiction in two years.

Seven notices of violation for clear-cutting, illegal fill or dumping in or near wetlands and watercourses were issued, Conservation Director Colin Kelly said in a Wednesday announcement. 

Kelly urged property owners to comply with regulations, which include respecting the 20-foot protected buffer around wetlands and watercourses that limits cutting vegetation or dumping debris without the required review and permits.

The buffers are designed to protect “valuable” wetlands and watercourses that “provide a range of valuable functions to everyday life, including flood control, pollution filtration, and wildlife habitat,” Kelly said in the statement.

A Conservation Department-issued permit is required before trees can be removed from a wetland.

“However, it is encouraged and advisable to add, rather than remove, vegetation,” Kelly said. “If you are able, add to the vegetated buffer between your home, driveway or lawn and the wetland or watercourse. The best mix of buffer vegetation includes a mix of native trees, shrubs and ground cover.”

Information about town regulations posted on the Conservation Department’s website includes a “Planting Guide,” Kelly noted, which recommends ways to promote thriving wetlands buffers.

Much of Kelly’s Wednesday statement echoed a similar warning the department issued last November, which focused on illegal dumping — including leaves and yard waste — into wetlands and streams.

For details on those rules, read the Regulations for the Protection and Preservation of Wetlands and Watercourses and the town’s Waterway Protection Line Ordinance.

“Together, I am confident we can reverse the trend and afford our wetlands and watercourses the protection they deserve for generations to come,” Kelly said.

For questions, contact the Conservation Department at 203-341-1170.