Cedarlands News

13 July 2008

Note from the NYS DEC

Posted by Ivory under: General .

Below is the full copy of an e-mail I received on July 9th from Kris Alberga from the New York Department of Conservation.  I’ve included some comments of my own below the note.

We recently had a chance to visit the Cedarlands Scout Reservation to review the recent timber harvest and ascertain compliance with the terms of the Conservation Easement.

There are two sections of the conservation easement that are pertinent to the tree cutting that occurred.  One is Article III, which allows for trees to be cut as part of forest management of the property. The harvesting must follow a forest management plan, which the Department has already approved.  The other section of the easement that pertains to tree cutting is Article IV, section 3.  Among other things, this section generally prohibits tree cutting, but provides for several conditions when it is allowed.  Two of the conditions where vegetation may be removed are: 1)"dead, dying or diseased trees or trees which present an imminent safety hazard" and 2)"to maintain and construct the roads, trails, and structures, and so as to be able to undertake the uses allowed within the Base Camp Area".

After a visit to the property the Department has concluded that the tree cutting that occurred over the winter and early spring does comply with the restrictions established in the conservation easement.  The majority of the tree cutting was done has part of the forest management plan and followed stand prescriptions developed by professional foresters contracted by the Revolutionary Trails Council, BSA.  The harvesting appeared to be done well.  No problems with erosion were noted and there was only minor damage to residual trees, all of which could be expected in a commercial harvest of this nature.

Some portions of the base camp area were not logged according to the forest management plan.  In these areas the tree removal was done as part of the maintenance of the facilities and improvements on the land that are used a Boy Scout camp.  In these locations plenty of quality trees remain which indicates that the cutting was done in a sustainable and reasonable manner.  Trees appeared to be removed in order to maintain existing campsites, buildings, facilities, and roads.  Trees were also removed for the construction of two new structures, expansion of existing campsites, and the opening of new utility roads in the Base Camp Area.  Trees were removed from the vicinity of campsites to increase the amount of light reaching the sites.   A few trees, especially near buildings, were removed because they were considered hazards by the Council.  A log landing in the base camp area has subsequently been converted to use as a parking lot.

Based on our observations during this site visit, the Department does not believe that the real property rights the State of New York holds under the terms of the Conservation Easement have been violated.  Thank you again for bringing your concerns to our attention.

Kristofer A. Alberga
Supervising Forester
NYS, Dep’t of Environmental Conservation
Division of Lands & Forests, Region 5
1115 NYS Route 86
PO Box 296
Ray Brook, NY  12977
(518) 897-1291
(518) 897-1370  FAX
kaalberg@gw.dec.state.ny.us
Member - Society of American Foresters
Master Educator, Leave No Trace, Inc.

First and foremost, I’d like to thank Mr. Alberga for his time and expertise on this matter.  Much appreciated.  As I’ve tried to make clear from the outset, the goal of these web pages has been to learn more about what happened at Cedarlands, and to share what I learn with others.

From what I gather from the note above, it’s pretty clear that the logging that occured matched the approved plan rather well.  Everything that happened, happened within the bounds of the law… nobody took undue liberties in that regard.  This is no real surprise.  As I noted early on with this web site, I was confident that everything came down within the rules.  Mr. Alberga’s note confirms that.

Some questions still remain, however, but I’ll be posting those in a separate note.

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