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.