by David Flint
DEC officials are convinced that designating the Rensselaer Plateau as a Forest Legacy Area would make good environmental and economic sense. Representatives from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) presented their proposal Before a packed audience of about 150 people at Tamarac School last Wednesday, March 24. Not all in the audience were likewise convinced, however.
Supervising Forester Bill Schongar explained that if the Plateau is designated a federal Forest Legacy Area, DEC would be able to apply for federal funds through the US Forest Service to assist in acquiring conservation easements. The easements would serve to prevent the lands from being converted to non-forest uses and to protect wildlife habitat. Everything would be
voluntary with agreements on a willing buyer/willing seller basis only. DEC could also opt to buy land outright if a landowner so chose, in which case the land would become part of either the State Forests or a Wildlife Management Area. The emphasis, however, would definitely be on acquiring easements rather than purchasing land.
DEC is now in the process of gathering public input and comments on their proposal to apply for the FLA designation. If successful, they expect that it may still be another five years before State funding would be available to start any acquisition.
The proposed Rensselaer Plateau Forest Legacy Area includes almost 200,000 acres extending from the northern tip of New Lebanon up to portions of Hoosick and Pittstown. Schongar pointed out that it is the fifth largest unfragmented forest in New York State and includes important wetlands and unique wildlife habitat that supports nesting migrating birds and a population of moose, black bear, wildcat and otter among other species. Watersheds include the Quackenkill, the Poestenkill, the Little Hoosic, the Black River and the Kinderhook. Threats to the forest include residential development and pressure from mining companies to extract Rensselaer Greywacke, stone used in highway construction.
In the question and answer session a number of people wanted to know about the impact on taxes. Schongar was joined by DEC Regional Director Gene Kelly and Natural Resources Supervisor Peter Innes in responding that donation of a conservation easement would qualify for a federal tax deduction and a state tax credit but that would not be the case if the easement or the land is sold for fair market value. Otherwise there would be little or no impact on taxes. If the land is sold outright to the State, it would not be removed from the tax rolls because the State pays town and school tax on forest lands. They noted that under an exception granted about 50 years ago, the State also pays fire district taxes on State lands to the towns of Berlin and Stephentown. Whether or not a landowner would receive an adjustment in his or her local property tax assessment, they said, is a matter between the landowner and the local assessor, but Kelly believed that the assessment could actually increase if it was deemed that protection from development added to the value of the property.
Stephentown Assessor Tom MacVeigh, contacted later, said that a conservation easement placed recently on land in that town did not result in a change in the property’s assessment. He could not say, however, how this might play out with future easements.
A number of people appeared to remain unconvinced, however, that the program, with the State buying or controlling more land, would not be just another burden on the taxpayers who are already hurting from no jobs and a depleted tax base.
People were concerned that hunting would be restricted or that prospective industry would be driven away. Schongar said that the State would negotiate with the landowner regarding what rights he or she wanted to include in the easement. These include development rights, recreation rights and forestry rights. One could sell the development rights and the forestry rights but retain the recreation rights such as hunting. In this case the State would restrict development – industry such as mining would be precluded – and would manage any timber harvest as in a State forest land while the landowner could continue to restrict hunting as he or she saw fit. If the recreation rights were sold, too, the State would manage access to hunting as on other State lands. Each purchase of rights would be on a case by case basis arrived at by negotiations between DEC and the landowner. A landowner would not be forced into any agreement, and, by the same token, if the landowner wanted to place too many restrictions, the State might not agree to the deal.
A Petersburgh resident asked whether designation of the Plateau as a Forest Legacy Area had something to do with the area being selected to be a United Nations Biosphere Reserve; he believed he had seen a map with this area, including the Taconic Ridge, so designated. Kelly responded that it had nothing to do with that UN program. He believed there was at one time a proposal to designate a portion of the Catskills as a Biosphere Reserve but it never happened.
A resident noted that there are 13 towns in the Plateau area. If only four of the 13 support the proposal, what would be the impact? Kelly replied that DEC would simply state in its application what support and what comments were received from town officials and from the public.
Following the Q&A session, people were invited to present their own comments, limited to three minutes for each person. Comments were about evenly split for and against the proposal. Stephen Pentak of Stephentown said he did not see the program as limiting economic benefits to the community but rather enhancing them. He said he and many others located here because of the quality of life. He contended it is rare to find beautiful country such as this so close to a metropolitan area. To see development as the only economic generator, he thought, was shortsighted.
Tyler Sawyer, former Town Supervisor of Grafton, had a different view. Sawyer pointed out that the State had walked into his town back in the 60s and grabbed up 20% of the land by eminent domain, thus taking it off the tax rolls. He saw the Forest Legacy Area as further reducing the possibility of economic growth and as one more restriction on home rule. He did not understand the worry about forest fragmentation as the Plateau is about 95% forest now, so if development were to double it would still be 90% forested. He urged everyone to approach his or her town board members and urge them to stick up for home rule and not support this program.
Jim Bonesteel is President of the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance but said he was speaking as a resident of Stephentown where he owes the fact of his clean water to the unspoiled Plateau forest land. It’s also a refuge for wildlife and a source of products such as lumber and maple syrup. He said he hoped it would remain so when his children are his age. He noted that the program would be completely voluntary and that other areas that have been similarly protected have caused no economic problems.
Lois Gundrum of Grafton said she had worked hard over 45 years to be able to buy about 3,500 acres of forest land in order to protect the environment and her business. This land, along with contracts with other landowners and sustainable forestry, has enabled her to continually employ 12 to 15 employees. “We need to protect our environment,” she said, “but why do we have to burden the taxpayers.” She suggested that people work to protect the land on their own and not ask for government funding.
Town Supervisors Larry Eckhardt of Stephentown and Rob Jaeger of Berlin were not able to attend the meeting but were asked their opinions later. Eckhardt said he had not had a chance to study the proposal yet so he would withhold any firm opinion. However, he was wary of restrictions such as residents in the Adirondack Preserve have to put up with. “The devil is in the details,” he said. He would want to make sure it was not a program that would result in more red tape such as requiring one more permit when you want to do something on your property.
Rob Jaeger was also somewhat non-committal. He was in favor of seeing forest land preserved and said we need to be proper stewards of our resources, but he agreed with Tyler Sawyer about more whittling away of home rule and more restrictions on the use of private land. Loggers and others in the Town of Berlin, he said, had also expressed their concerns about how restrictive the program could wind up being. He was concerned that the average taxpayer in Berlin already cannot or soon will not be able to afford to pay his or her property taxes. He said he could support the program if he were assured it didn’t impinge too much on growth or development. As expressed in the Town’s Comprehensive Plan, Jaeger wanted a balance between green and support for the tax base.
Comments on the DEC proposal will be accepted until April 16 and may be sent to William Schongar at NYSDEC-Region 4, 1130 N. Westcott Road, Schenectady, NY, 12306, or by email to r4ump@gw.dec.state.ny.us. For more information about the FLA designation, including a map of the Plateau area, one can visit DEC’s website at www.dec.ny.gov/lands/63125.html.