The best source for local news from Marbletown, Rochester & Rosendale
Published the 1st and 3rd Friday of each month | Vol. 27, Issue 10
May 20, 2022 | $1.00
Historic perspective informs Conflict meadow care and management over Ann Belmont BSP Reporter
On a recent windy, gray May morning, a dozen or so folks dressed for working outdoors gathered on a hilltop meadow at the Ashokan Center in Olive for an event called “Reclaiming Historic Meadow Boundaries." Andrew Faust, noted permaculturist and director of the Center for Bioregional Living in Ellenville, was there to give a talk and to direct the volunteers, armed Faust with gloves and pruning shears, in pushing back an advancing line of tangled brush at the meadow's edge. He has been working at the Center to develop a broad site plan for its 385 acres, and reclaiming the meadow is a Phase One activity in his master plan. A fire ring heaped with logs gave off a little heat as Faust talked about the natural history of this place. When deciding what’s the best way to manage a property, “it’s about interpreting the landscape,” he said. “Why are certain species here? First you start with the geology...in permaculture, we say, let’s consider the overall layout of things before we start getting into the details.” After geologic history, “the next biggest pattern … is that 10,000 to 12,000 years ago there was still a glacier that had influence here.” Moving forward a few thousand years, “another pattern to understand is how indigenous Algonquin people managed the landscape with fire – absolutely the most powerful ancient land management tool. The people that were living here ... used intentional burns to create conditions that selected for blueberries and raspberries, butternut trees, American chestnut … we also know that fires mitigate blight significantly.” “You want to understand landscape in
In front, Opal Merenda learns about meadow care. Photo by Ovi Horta
deep time and relatively recent time,” Faust went on. He used the metaphor of ripples in time spreading backward and forward from the present."We vastly underestimate the scale at which Algonquin peoples were shaping the landscape" for around 6,000 years. The corn, beans and squash they grew were species they imported from Central America. “It wasn’t like this was some wild, overgrown, crazy mare’s nest of whatever volunteered to grow.” European settlers cut most of the forest down wherever they lived. Faust talked about the effect that “selective logging” has had over the last 300 years here, calling what remains “a paltry, mutant semblance of a healthy forest,” due to the selection of the biggest, straightest, healthiest trees for lumber, called ”high-grading". A hundred years ago, 80-90% of the local forest was gone, he said; the Ashokan area was mostly cow pasture.
Someone asked if there is an intrinsic value to “old growth.” Faust replied, "The benefit of old growth is its capacity to sequester carbon, prevent erosion, and to create habitat – it’s off the charts.” Though the day's activity was the removal of what are commonly called invasive weeds, terms like “exotic invasives" are, he insisted, "unscientific, unsound and have no real meaning. In permaculture we like to call them ‘opportunistic, expansive, dispersive.’ We feel it’s a more botanical description of the plant’s gregarious growth habits ... We are bringing prejudices and preferences to the landscape ... an oak tree is more important than an autumn olive, [but] that’s my opinion – not a scientific truth.” “With 300 years of clearcutting, we don’t have an intact ecosystem at this point. I don’t think it makes sense to run around with extensive forest volunteers trying to rip out barberry. If you want to build a hiking trail and there’s barberry in front of your trail, I would remove it for sure … but the cat’s out of the bag, and how much energy do you want to spend on it? “There is a subculture within the permaculture movement that likes to poke holes in the whole invasive-species thing,” Faust continued. “When we decide we want to remove a given patch of plants, let’s have a reason for why we’re doing it.” Today's project, clearing the brush at this meadow's edge, had a clear purpose. “We want this part of our meadow to be something we can hang out in again. We’ve let these weedy, thorny, not too interesting plants occupy the space … It wasn’t mowed for a long time," and the brushy growth is the first stage in the process of reforestation. “ ‘Succession’ is the process by which these ecologies inevitably become forests," said Faust. "Some species tend to prolifer-
electric rates Marbletown votes to join lawsuit Brooke Stelzer BSP Reporter
The Marbletown Town Board passed Resolution 57 on May 17, which allows the town to be a party of litigation to Joule Community Power, the administrator of the Community Choice Aggregation program. Columbia Utilities, the CCA provider of renewable energy to the Hudson Valley, and alternative to Central Hudson Gas and Electric, filed an April 19 request with the state Public Service Commission to exit its contract, which doesn’t end until June 30, 2024. In doing so, all 10 municipalities who are part of the CCA, including Marbletown, Beacon, Poughkeepsie, Clinton, New Paltz, Philipstown, Red Hook, Saugerties, New Paltz and Cold Spring, would be offloaded back to Central Hudson, and thus subject to volatile market energy rates. The decision would impact nearly 25,000 residents and small businesses throughout the Hudson Valley. Town supervisor Rich Parete says Joule has asked every municipality in the CCA to join the potential litigation against Columbia. In an interview with BlueStone Press on May 19, Joule CEO Jessica Stomback said, “The
See Land, page 9
See Power, page 15
Land-use moratorium in Rochester? The public weighs in Ann Belmont BSP Reporter Before opening a public hearing for the land-use moratorium proposed by the Town of Rochester Town Board, town supervisor Mike Baden outlined the specifics: Which types of land-use would
Grand opening of the new D&H Canal Museum PAGE 4
be affected by the moratorium and which would not. He also went over the reasons the board has decided to propose it. Lasting 180 days from its beginning date, with two optional 90-day extensions, the moratorium would target “actions subject to building permits, site plans, special use permits," subdivision applications of three lots or greater, and buildings larger than 4,000 square feet. Baden added that
Rochester has, in the past 15 months, seen a record number of applications requiring planning board review, as well as an unprecedented 700-800 building permits issued by the code enforcement office. There would be a number of exceptions to the moratorium, Baden added. Any application for a building permit that’s approved before the law takes effect will be allowed to proceed. Also, any applica-
Marbletown's Housing Committee presents first round of ideas PAGE 3
tion that has been on the agenda for the Planning Board will be allowed to continue; any application for a zoning change or for inclusion in the Economic Empowerment Overlay [a special zoning category]; any agricultural action covered under NY State's Ag & Mkts law; “single-family and
See Rochester, page 17
RV boys lacrosse on a winning run PAGE 10