By Tom Grace
The Otsego County Highway Department has been ordered to stop dumping dirt near wetlands believed to be federally protected on county Route 54 in Cherry Valley.
The department had been leaving fill at the home of Milton and Shirley Beaulieu, according to Ron Tiderencel, county highway superintendent.
``It was dirt we were cleaning up from under the guide rails in the area, and the Beaulieus asked if they could have some,'' Tiderencel said.
Milton Beaulieu is a former highway department employee, he said.
Sometimes this excess dirt is pushed over the bank, and sometimes it's trucked away, Tiderencel said. In this case, loads were taken to the Beaulieu yard, he said.
Last Wednesday, Michael Whaling of Sharon Springs noticed the dirt pile, saying, ``I had to look twice, because I wasn't expecting that.''
Whaling called the state Department of Environmental Conservation and learned the wetland along county Route 34 was protected by federal regulations. He called the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and spoke to George Casey, an enforcement and compliance officer.
Casey checked the location on maps and preliminarily concluded it was a federally protected wetland. He called Tiderencel last week and asked the highway crew to stop taking loads to the property.
``I had planned to get out and look at it, but it won't be until next week at the earliest,'' Casey said Tuesday.
Tiderencel said he visited the site after speaking with Casey.
``I had no idea there was a wetland up there,'' he said.
He also noted that while the dirt has been spread, the county crew had left it piled up on the Beaulieu lawn.
Shirley Beaulieu said Tuesday that she and her husband wanted the fill to divert water away from their house, as their basement had been leaking.
``We've had this problem for years, and this was a way to take care of it,'' she said.
However, the land where they've had the dirt spread is not theirs, she said. It belongs to neighbor Jeffrey Wait.
``We asked him if it would be OK if we filled it in a little, and he didn't mind,'' she said.
Wait confirmed this Tuesday.
``It's my land, and when I bought it, no one said anything about it being a federally protected wetland,'' he said.
Later Tuesday, Wait said he had contacted a lawyer and was hoping to speak to Casey.
Casey said that when fill has been dumped illegally, the landowner typically has to remedy the situation. The Army Corps of Engineers prefers to work with landowners to protect the environment, although by statute, violators can be fined.
Whaling said he acted because he saw degradation in a beautiful spot.
``I think the action of the Army Corps of Engineers speaks for itself and shows the importance of protecting wetlands,'' he said.
This wetland is particularly beautiful and full of life, Whaling added, ``and I've been watching seasons change on it all my life.''
