Fredonia has put off approval for its forest managers to bid out a tree harvest near the reservoir, after several citizens complained about the move at a Board of Trustees meeting Monday.

Jon Titus, a SUNY Fredonia biology professor, said, “It is well documented that removal of vegetation, including trees and construction of logging roads, are linked with increases in sedimentation. There’s evidence that the same activity undertaken in the 1970s and 1990s is what led to the problems with sedimentation in the reservoir today. The forests surrounding the reservoir are located on steep slopes and, in many cases, on highly unstable soils that are particularly susceptible to landslides.”

He added that the construction of logging roads will tempt ATV users to use them, worsening an ongoing problem there.

Tracy Marafioti said the village has had problems with turbid water, and should be striving to minimize that. She also questioned the connections between Forecon, the forest managers contracted by the village, and the logging industry.

Trustee EvaDawn Bashaw defended Forecon and the village’s forest management plan, which Forecon created, in response. She said that the loggers that are hired will not be connected with Forecon.

“I just want the public to know, we have been responsible in talking to experts. We’re not hiring loggers without a management plan or without managers,” she said.

A total of seven people from the public raised concerns about the logging plan.

“I don’t know, really, a lot about it, and I guess I’m a little concerned that the public and the citizens of Fredonia and the surrounding area really didn’t know that this was happening,” said Gina Kron.

“I’d like to learn more about the ‘whys.’ Why are we cutting down healthy trees? Why are we risking, potentially, our water source? Why are we disturbing wildlife habitats in a wetland?”

“I understand that there has been a survey, but lots of things have changed within the past five years or so in terms of our understanding and predictions of what’s going to happen to our forests, and what’s going to happen to our weather,” said Margaret Urban. “I’m very concerned with the fact that we are taking away one of the guaranteed ways of reducing siltation and reducing runoff by harvesting the forest around (the reservoir) and I don’t understand why we’re taking that chance.”

Jonathan Townsend said he has nearly two decades of professional experience in land management. “Timber harvests result in unavoidable issues with erosion, soil compaction, and other environmental impacts, even with the most carefully planned harvest conducted by the most skilled forestry professionals,” he said. “At a site like the village’s reservoir, timber harvests are ill advised based on the predominant land use of that property: water filtration and protection of the village’s drinking water supply that serves several thousand people.”

He suggested two revenue-gathering alternatives to logging. One is entering Forest Carbon Works, a program where landowners with intact forests get annual payments for the carbon sequestration benefits their trees provide. There is also a federal program where landowners get incentives to maintain healthy forests, he said.

Later in the meeting, Trustee James Lynden said he had heard plenty of concerns from the community about the logging plan. He said that the resolution approving it should be tabled and that there should probably be a public hearing, where Forecon representatives can speak to the public about the plan.

Bashaw said there have already been two presentations by Forecon but she was willing to have them come again if necessary. She stressed the resolution on the agenda was not to award a logging contract, but to authorize Forecon to accept the best bid for one.

The four trustees wound up voting unanimously to table the resolution, although Bashaw said she was doing so reluctantly.