Date: 1/13/26 12:28 pm From: AB Clark <anneb.clark...> Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Fwd: [External Email] UNAs threatened
To all local birders,
The article attached below is worth noting and turning out to the Jan 22
meeting for if you value the Hile School Road Wetland, of which the
Freeville Fir Swamp UNA is part. There are many other potential impacts of
this proposed development. I am speaking to you all as a concerned nearby
resident of the property, but the impacts on Dryden Township and the county
go beyond this.
Happy to answer more questions insofar as I can,
Anne
Anne B. Clark, Ph.D.
Biological Sciences, Emeritus
Binghamton University
Binghamton, NY 13902-6000
(607) 222-0905 (cell)
(607) 777-2438 (Biol Sci office)
*Power concedes nothing without a demand. *
*It never did and it never will.* Frederick Douglass
This from the Jan 11 issue, Tompkins Green Scene:
*Two of Tompkins County’s Unique Natural Areas in Dryden Threatened by
Potential Development*
Two of Tompkins County’s Unique Natural Areas (UNA) would be threatened by
a proposed residential subdivision development that seeks to carve up all
of the Trillium Woods (UNA-73) and a large portion of the Freeville Fir
Tree Swamp (UNA-74) into units for sale. Trillium Woods contains one of the
densest collections of breathtakingly beautiful spring wildflowers in the
County. The Freeville Fir Tree Swamp is an extensive wetland environment,
and the only one of its type in the County, that supports mammoth hemlock
trees and species that can only be found elsewhere hundreds of miles north
of Ithaca. It also includes a population of the rare and endangered
globeflower.
The county’s Environmental Management Council’s designation of a land
parcel as a Unique Natural Area does not in itself convey any legal
protections. It provides a planning tool so that landowners
and municipalities will be made aware of the special, sometimes
irreplaceable, qualities of these areas so that they will be protected and
any disruption of them can be avoided before approval for land development
is granted.
In this case, it will be up to the Dryden Planning Board to require these
areas be protected as part of the development plan. The Dryden Planning
Board’s next meeting is Thursday, January 22 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM, in
the Town Public Meeting Room, 93 East Main Street, Dryden, NY 13053, or via
Hybrid tools, and the current owner’s development proposal is expected to
be formally introduced at that meeting.
For the Planning Board to resolve to defend the UNAs, it is
vitally important that the public let the Board know how important
protecting these sites is to them, by attending the Board meeting and/or
sending letters. Together we can make the Board aware that protecting these
rare, beautiful, environmentally sensitive, and special places is the only
correct decision.
--
Cayugabirds-L List Info:
Visit: http://LISTS.cornell.edu for more information
Posting Address: <Cayugabirds-L...>
Archives:
The Mail Archive: https://www.mail-archive.com/<cayugabirds-l...>/maillist.html Sightings: Please submit your observations to eBird at http://www.ebird.org.
--
