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Otsego County Soil and Water officials report recent timber sales, urge plans for trails and volunteer insurance
Summary
Soil and Water staff told the Otsego County Public Works Committee that two recent timber sales are nearly complete, the county manages about 3,700 acres of timberland, and lack of written agreements and insurance has limited volunteer trail maintenance; officials urged a coordinated approach to trails, surveys and replanting.
Chris Gonzales, district manager of the Otsego County Soil and Water Conservation District, and Dan Zimmerman, the district's soil and water forester, briefed the Public Works Committee on July 16 about recent timber sales and longer-term forest management.
Zimmerman said the county sold two parcels and that logging on Parcel 12 (behind the county cabin) is nearly finished. He named the logger as Joe Santoro of Green Lumber (part of the Bailey Lumber Company) and described a mechanized harvest sequence ' a puncher that fells trees, a slasher that sections them into logs, and a picker that removes them ' which, he said, limited damage to the remaining stand.
The forester advised that selective thinning should improve residual tree health and provide another harvest in 20 to 30 years. He said crews are also working on a Norway spruce thinning on Attaway Road (Number 6) and are harvesting high-quality ash ahead of likely emerald ash borer infestation.
"We've sold two parcels," Zimmerman said. "They've harvested all the marked timber correctly, with very little damage to the residual stand." Gonzales added that the district is mapping and evaluating additional stands that may be candidates for future sales.
The officials told the committee the county manages roughly 3,700 acres of timberland across multiple parcels and has updated forest-management plans on most properties. Zimmerman said he authored the first Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM) forestry-management plan in New York and hopes to expand agroforestry and native-species regeneration work.
Trail access and volunteer maintenance prompted extended discussion. Gonzales and Zimmerman described prior "gentleman's agreements" under which the snowmobile club and other volunteer groups maintained trails, but both said the absence of written contracts and questions about liability have limited formal volunteer programs. County staff reported the state advised counties not to assume volunteer liability; one option discussed was contracting with nonprofit groups that carry their own insurance or ensuring volunteers complete DEC chainsaw and safety training to satisfy insurers.
Committee members pressed for clearer survey records and GPS-based parcel maps to resolve landlocked parcels and neighbor disputes about buffer trees. "We have roughly 3,700 acres of timberland," Zimmerman said, noting some parcels still need surveys and property-line blazes repainted to protect access.
The presentation closed with an offer from the Soil and Water staff to provide trail plans and documentation to the committee and to make materials available digitally for supervisory review.
The committee did not take a formal vote on any forestry policy at the meeting; staff said they will follow up with written trail plans and coordinate next steps with county insurance and planning staff.
