For the purposes of § 45-6B-33, land is special, exceptional, critical, or unique if it possesses one or more of the following characteristics:
- (1) The land is so ecologically fragile that, once it is adversely affected, it could not return to its former ecological role in the reasonably foreseeable future;
- (2) The land has such a strong influence on the total ecosystem of which it is a part that even temporary effects felt by it could precipitate a system-wide ecological reaction of unpredictable scope or dimension; or
- (3) The land has scenic, historic, archaeologic, topographic, geologic, ethnologic, scientific, cultural, or recreational significance.
Source: SL 1989, ch 381 , § 2.