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By MICHAEL RISINIT
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: December 10,
2003)
KENT — The trees blanketing the slopes of Mount
Nimham should be left alone, town officials and residents
told the state this week, and plans to clear cut a portion
for a model forest should be abandoned.
"It's an aging forest," Supervisor Annmarie Baisley
said yesterday. "(Residents) want it to be able to
grow to its full potential."
That was the message passed on this week to state foresters,
who visited the area again to explain why a state-owned
swath of land around the Kent mountain will be developed
into a model working forest. Representatives from the state
Department of Environmental Conservation outlined their
plan at Monday's meeting of the Town Board, which unanimously
passed a resolution opposing the project.
What Monday's meeting and the resolution means for the
project is unclear. Roughly 80 people attended, and the
majority of speakers criticized the project. Neither DEC
spokeswoman Wendy Rosenbach or agency forester Jeff Wiegert
returned telephone messages yesterday. The gathering was
a follow-up meeting to one in October, where residents faulted
the state for failing to notify the town in a timely manner,
lamented the possible loss of century-old trees and leveled
other criticisms.
The 415-acre model forest is a collaborative effort led
by the DEC and involves the New York City Department of
Environmental Protection, the nonprofit Watershed Agricultural
Council and the State University of New York's College of
Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. Its goals,
such as water quality protection, are based in science,
supporters maintain.
Three other model forests already exist in the Catskills
and are a means to promote forestry as an economic plan
for private lands surrounding New York City's reservoirs.
Well-managed forests, rather than development, are the city's
preferred land use for protecting water quality. Mount Nimham
sits near the city's West Branch Reservoir.
The proposed project involves cutting down up to 60 percent
of the trees in some areas and the possible use of fire
and herbicides to control the underbrush.
One resident, who has promoted the grass-roots opposition
effort through a Web site he runs, www.planputnam.org,
said the public response wasn't antilogging but propreservation.
Formerly farmland and pasture, the proposed model forest
property is a haven for hunters, hikers and mountain bikers
and is "the closest recreational opportunity for many
outside of ball fields," Jeff Green said.
"People have come to value forests," Green said.
"There are so few around. It's not like upstate, where
this would be a very different situation. We wouldn't be
having these meetings."
iMichael Saviola, program manager for the Watershed Agricultural
Council in Westchester and Putnam counties, said the group
would hold public forums in late winter and early spring
to explain the aims of the forestry project. Work is scheduled
to start in May, including installing erosion control devices
and two temporary bridges. Various sections will then see
some trees cut and brush removed in anticipation of years-long
research projects.
"Basically, we're waiting for the state to clear the
path there (in Kent)," Saviola said.
State Assemblywoman Sandra Galef, D-Ossining, who represents
Kent, attended Monday's meeting. She said she planned to
contact Gov. George Pataki and DEC Commissioner Erin M.
Crotty to pass on residents' outrage. The work, she said,
shouldn't be done on the mountain.
"The more I heard from everyone, the more it seems
the people of Kent are not interested in this project at
all," Galef said. "Maybe what we should do is
be looking for a private landowner whose interested in logging.
We want private landowners to do this anyway."
Send e-mail to Michael
Risinit
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