Please note: This page is a historical document. The wetland in question is permanently protected as of 2002 by a conservation easement, has been turned into a nature preserve, and the logged area is part of a nature trail. One couldn't ask for a happier ending. The developer was also reimbursed.
Go to our other page to view the great article that was published in the Buffalo News on January 21, 2000 about the logging operation in the Klydel Wetland.
Dateline: January 21, 2000 - If you saw the 5:30 am, 6:00 am, 5:00 pm, and 6:00 pm Channel 2 News you have a good idea of what is going on in Klydel and what our group is trying to do about it. NYSDEC Region 9 Director, Gerry Mikol, completely supported the developer's actions with his own little pronouncement on property rights. Investigative reporter, Mike Igoe, did a wonderful job showing what happens when wetlands are overdeveloped and those whose homes surround the wetland (or are actually in the wetland) are flooded.
Dateline: January 20, 2000 - Klydel made the front page of the Tonawanda News today. Klydel also made the 11:00 pm Channel 2 News with some footage involving our group and great reporting by Mike Igoe.
We applaud the swift action taken by the US Army Corps to halt the timbering at this point.� Plain and simple- the Klydel Wetland is a federal and state wetland and there are laws in place to protect wetlands. Many organizations, representing a large part of the community, support the preservation of the Klydel Wetland.
Was the logging operation sanctioned by NYSDEC in the Klydel Wetland in January 2000 "clear cutting"? Here's the official definition of "clear cutting" found in NYSDEC regulations...
The developer received a letter from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation about logging in the Klydel Wetland. It amounted to an after-the-fact permit. The State of Ohio fined a developer (in 2002) over $1 million for logging in a wetland.
Below is the after-the-fact guidance letter from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to the developer. A simple freedom of information request for these records in January 2000 was met by stonewalling, causing Citizens for a Green North Tonawanda to appeal to an administrative law judge to obtain a release of materials denied. The items that NYSDEC was trying to hide (that they were later forced to release) should not have required this effort for the public to obtain.
If anyone would like to know how long it takes to replace a forested wetland, check out the USGS study on forested wetland mitigation projects.
In our opinion, it was extremely disturbing that NYSDEC had been so very bold with their public statements about the legality of logging within the state-regulated Klydel Wetland. In January 2000, Gerry Mikol (Region 9 director of NYSDEC) appeared on the NBC affiliate in Buffalo, NY, and basically spoke to the right of property owners to timber their land.��His�message certainly didn't highlight the need to protect our vanishing wetlands.
It seemed�to us (at the time that logging was occurring in Klydel in January 2000) that NYSDEC should�have been issuing very clear guidance and cautionary statements about the letter of the law when it comes to tree cutting in protected wetlands. After all, the state regulations in this matter are quite stringent and somewhat confusing. For example, we think that the site would be considered to have been clearcut (which requires a Freshwater Wetlands permit) if the loggers failed to leave a minimum of 10 sq ft/acre basal area of trees >6 inches in diameter (e.g., ten 13-inch diameter trees per acre) plus a minimum of 30 sq ft/acre basal area of regeneration trees >1 inch in diameter (e.g., 612 3-inch diameter trees per acre) within the area that was actually timbered. These standards are not easily met. NYSDEC should closely monitor this situation in the future to avoid violations of the law.
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� 2006