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Friends,
Over the past few months you have generated more
than 130 letters and emails to the NYS DEC stating either explicit
opposition or extreme caution regarding DEC's plans for their
lands in Putnam County, New York. This is an overwhelming outpouring
of support for the return of naturalized forests to our community
and for that you should take special pride. Stand up, take a bow!
There was a small number of letters in support.
These came from:
Cornelius Murphy, President of the SUNY forestry
school, SUNY-ESF
Rafael Rodriguez, District Chief of the US Department of the Interior,
USGS
Robin Morgan, United States Department of Agriculture
Doug Ramey, East West Forestry Associates
Ted Kozlowski, Region 3 Forest Practice Board
Ron Farr, North Jersey District Water Supply Commission
Craig Castioni, Resident of Carmel
Still, 130 residents, the folk who live here
and recreate here, people from this community and the surrounding
areas, from NYC and other points away, have expressed deep opposition
to current DEC plans. The question is, will our voices be heard
and will the State listen?
Region 3 Director Marc Moran told us at a recent
meeting that all comments will be treated equally and that the
DEC decision will be based on the "quality" of the comments,
not the "quantity". What does this portend for our position?
We shall find out in a few weeks... Stay tuned!
Now, a short quiz:
Question 1) Which of these plants are
native to the northeastern United States?
Lespedeza
Autumn Olive
Bittersweet
Honeysuckle
Multiflora rose
Answer: None of them
Question 2) Which of these plants were
intentionally introduced by the DEC to their lands in Putnam County?
Lespedeza
Autumn Olive
Bittersweet
Honeysuckle
Multiflora rose
Answer: All of them
Question 3) Which of these plants are
widely considered to be invasive species?
Lespedeza
Autumn Olive
Bittersweet
Honeysuckle
Multiflora rose
Answer: All of them
In 1970, during a reforestation project on the
old Rohner property (the lands east of Gipsy Trail and north of
Nichols Street), the DEC planted pure stands of larch, red pine
and norway spruce in a reforestation effort then surrounded them
with hundreds of the above plants as wildlife habitat.
Over the years that habitat has certainly gone
wild!
Park at the large lot on Gipsy Trail and hike
down and around the pond behind the air monitoring station and
you'll see entire hillsides covered and choked by bittersweet.
The forests are dying here and I cannot find any reference in
DEC materials for the removal of these invasives from the forest
- yet they're willing to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer
dollars to create another tree plantation in the park instead.
While the new plantation will use better forestry
practices than that of 1970, they will not create a natural forest
here and the problems already created will not be repaired. The
DEC plans are not about regeneration of natural forests, but about
timber extraction, plain and simple.
Walk along any road in the park and see the abundance
of multiflora rose, garlic mustard and bittersweet that was introduced
by the hand of man in our scientific attempts to "improve"
the forests. Then walk up towards the firetower on the foot trail
or along the slender, undulating ribbon of mtb trail on the same
side of the park and you'll find virtually none of this weedy
growth.
A Ph.D. Entomologist from Southeast wrote to
the DEC and said in part,
"...the phenomenon of invasives using
logging roads as invasion corridors is so widespread that it
is shocking that these plans are not repudiated on this basis
alone."
And yet, in the proposed model forest area alone,
the DEC intends to "brush out" a new road in a beautiful
valley that is currently a footpath connecting to the County park,
and the Army Corps of Engineers is under contract to "improve"
or "upgrade" 3160 feet of an established backcountry
jeep trail, already lined with the aforementioned invasive species.
This work will churn up the soil, release buried seeds and allow
for the introduction of additional weedy plants. DEC employee
William Rudge claims the addition of skiff and logging roads will
improve access for recreation to the forest, making it possible
to drive your car further into these lands and have an easier
time walking in the woods. That is, if you don't mind the traffic
and weeds that will most certainly follow these incursions.
Would it not be better to assist our community
in restoring the blighted sections of the park to a natural balance
before considering creating new avenues for additional infestation?
Todd Baldwin of the NYC DEP is correct when he
says that "hands off" management of our forests is impossible
right now. In the clash of urban and natural forested environments
there will almost always be a need for some sort of management
to protect the forests and improve their health from the effects
of man.
Isn't that exactly what we've been asking for
all along? Yes it is.
In fact, we've been asking the DEC both in print
and in person to help our community manage our forests in a way
that encourages their return to health by assisting us in removing
the invasive species from the forest, thereby allowing the forests
to grow better and healthier - and naturally.
We've been asking the DEC to NOT create additional
avenues for these invasives to enter the forest and we've been
asking the DEC to work cooperatively with other public landholders
in Putnam's Highlands to manage their combined forests and lands
in a way that encourages a return to natural ecosystems and the
sustained and permanent integrity of our lands.
Instead, the DEC has steadfastly refused to entertain
this idea with the community and intends instead to move forward
with their current plans to even-age our forests with the ultimate
goal of creating a plantation where our forests now stand. And
while there may be a very short-term improvement in forest health,
the long term requires constant management on a huge scale, something
the DEC is not staffed or funded to do.
Over the ten years of the in-place Unit Management
Plan for the Hudson Highlands (which is open for review this year),
the DEC should have logged hundreds of acres and yet they've done
virtually nothing due to staff and budget constraints. With the
state so deeply in debt, do we expect this to change? I don't
think so.
Wouldn't it be a better use of taxpayer funds
to study - and then implement - ways to return our local forests
to their natural state rather than to turn our recreation areas
and suburban open space lands into false forests with the sole
goal of timber extraction? I think so, you think so. Why does
the New York State DEC not think so?
Jeff Green
PlanPutnam
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