Fredonia officials have talked about cutting timber on the village’s reservoir property for years. They talked some more last week and will talk some more in the future.

With several people expressing concerns about possible negative environmental effects, a Board of Trustees resolution to do some logging at the reservoir was tabled. A SUNY Fredonia professor offered some research conducted by his students, including mapping, and trustees want to look at that more before making a decision.

Geology professor Matt Purtill conducted a presentation about his class’ research. “I’m not a paid consultant. I’m not here to provide recommendations. I’m just here to provide some of our results,” he said at the start.

He showed a map of the reservoir’s watershed and explained how he and his students “wanted to look for evidence of erosion in a couple different ways.”

Purtill said the reservoir was built on glacial lake sediments that retain water well, the professor speculating that may be why the reservoir was originally located at the site. However, glacial lake sediments are “known worldwide to be prone to landslides. They tend to be very unstable especially when excess water is involved.”

He showed a map with 31 separate, small landslide zones in the watershed. The zones included “relict and active” zones.

Offering a photo of trees on a landslide scarp, Purtill said he wanted to get their ages through dendrochronology. “I would hazard a guess, based on the size of the trees that are growing on the scarp … this is all within the last 100 to 200 years.”

Purtill and his students are taking a deeper look at one particular zone, placing pins in the ground to see what is happening with erosion processes. “We’re kind of in the process of trying to look at this and trying to get a better feeling for (the exact) erosion — but I’m dealing with students, so it’s taking time.”

Trustee Michelle Twichell asked for an overlay of where logging is planned, onto Purtill’s erosion map.

“I still question, why do we have to log?” she commented.

At that point, Trustee Jon Espersen stated he wanted to table the logging resolution until trustees can see the map requested by Twichell.

Twichell asked Jonathan Townsend to speak. Townsend owns land next to the reservoir, which is located on a closed, dead-end drive off Fredonia-Stockton Road.

Townsend has spoken out against logging at the reservoir in the past, and did so again. Mayor Michael Ferguson asked for a meeting with him on the issue.

“I understand the village needs revenue and I understand the need to pursue that. I think you’re doing your job to try to bring in money to the village,” Townsend said. “But don’t make a mistake in the process, and don’t be kind of enthralled by the idea of timber money coming, when you could be setting yourself up for impacts in the future which would cost a lot more money.”

Twichell asked him, “Isn’t it true that these trees contribute to stabilizing the land and helping with the water being filtered?” Townsend confirmed that.

Pomfret Town Board member Michael Lee later thanked the village board for tabling the logging resolution. “I think it’s important that we give some time to allow for some of these studies that are looking at the potential for erosion in the area, and the ecological impact that logging could have on the reservoir, especially while we still are in the process of transitioning water sources,” he said.

During her subsequent trustee report time, Twichell read an anti-reservoir property logging letter from the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy.

Fredonia officials have discussed logging the village reservoir property for years, but nothing was ever done. Trustees tabled another resolution to do the job in November 2024. They also set aside a resolution to do it back in December 2021 after several citizens, including Townsend, spoke out against it.