This page is a snapshot, cut 13 September 2026, of a topic that moves. Below is the shape of the movement, read from the towns' own meeting records, and the way to get a view of it that stays current.
Environmental measures that do not sit in a more specific class: conservation and open-space provisions, natural-resource protection, and general environmental ordinances.Our definition of the class.
Snapshot taken 13 September 2026, based on 540 dated municipal records flagged as environmental protection general, spanning 296 municipalities across 39 states. The topic moves; a later cut supersedes this page.
What this page is for one topic at state or national scope, told as a story: how it arrived, the shape of its movement, a dated snapshot of a moving record, and the door to a view of it that stays current. If it does not, write to us; that is what changes the next edition.
Source documents 3 of 4 on this page link straight to the town's own record. The rest are available on request. Ask for access.
The record starts in Maine, 3 January 1970. Since then 296 municipalities in 39 states have put the topic on a meeting record, at very different speeds: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts hold 55% of the dated events between them.
The last 90 days put 42 meetings on the record, down from 114 in the 90 days before. 1 more is already on posted agendas.
It runs through the rooms where budgets and ordinances are made: Conservation Commission, Planning Board and Select Board.
| Quarter | Meetings | Towns | States |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 to Nov 2025 | 25 | 22 | 8 |
| Dec 2025 to Feb 2026 | 141 | 97 | 24 |
| Mar 2026 to May 2026 | 120 | 88 | 22 |
| Jun 2026 to Sep 2026 (current) | 42 | 34 | 9 |
a rolling 90-day total, so the right-hand point is that same 90-day count. The busiest stretch was Dec 2025 to Feb 2026, with 141 meetings.
| State | Towns on the record | Meetings, 90 days | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maine | 55 | 14 ▬ +0.0% | 2026-09-09 |
| New Hampshire | 44 | 9 | 2026-08-27 |
| Massachusetts | 44 | 6 | 2026-08-12 |
| Connecticut | 16 | 0 | 2026-06-03 |
| California | 16 | 0 | 2026-05-07 |
| Vermont | 15 | 2 | 2026-06-26 |
| New York | 15 | 4 ▲ +33.3% | 2026-09-08 |
| Illinois | 11 | 1 new on the record | 2026-07-31 |
| New Jersey | 8 | 1 | 2026-07-02 |
| Washington | 6 | 4 | 2026-07-16 |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | 0 | 2026-05-18 |
| Arizona | 5 | 0 | 2026-04-29 |
| Utah | 5 | 0 | 2026-02-02 |
| Delaware lighter read | 4 | 1 | 2026-06-22 |
| Rhode Island lighter read | 4 | 0 | 2026-04-16 |
And 24 more states on the record, in an account view.
9 September 2026 · Scarborough, Maine Ordinance Committee
the ordinance, on the town's own site Ordinance Committee - Sep 09 2026 — 2026-09-09
8 September 2026 · South Portland, Maine City Council Workshop
the document, on the town's own site CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP - Sep 08 2026 — 2026-09-08
8 September 2026 · Kingston, New York Unknown
27 August 2026 · Rindge, New Hampshire Conservation Commission
the minutes, on the town's own site Conservation Commission — RCC Agenda 082726
And 1562 more companies.
The documents naming each, and the threads they sit in, are the account view. If one of these is you, those are your projects on the record. Ask and we will show you every one, and the towns around them, as they move.
Everything above is frozen at 13 September 2026; the topic is not. 86 more events on this topic carry no usable date and are counted, never dated. The counts follow where we read most: a town or a state absent here was not read at depth, and absence is not evidence the topic is absent there. A lighter-read state is not a ceiling; where you care about a region, pointing the system there is the first thing an account changes. How coverage is built, and its known limits: municipalalpha.com/methodology.
We track this topic continuously; this page is one cut of it, taken 13 September 2026. An account turns the snapshot into a working view: every town and every document behind these counts, the thread on each matter as it develops, word of new meetings as they land on the record, your own states and topics side by side, and the data itself when you want it in a table. The towns above are the taste; what each is actually deciding, funding or stalling is the read an account carries.
Each state's name above opens its own page. Counts and dates are computed from the documents on the record; the topic and its definition are ours. This page carries no subscriber content.
Scope
Across the country
Towns on the record
296
States on the record
39
Earliest
3 January 1970
Meetings, last 90 days
42 against 114 before
Snapshot cut
13 September 2026
A view that stays current