Commission probes Brookhaven tree clearing

It started as a simple plan to move a playground in a Middle Island park.

Now, Brookhaven Town is being investigated by the Central Pine Barrens Commission, which says the town might be guilty of clearing too many trees in the protected pine barrens area.

The roughly 5-acre town-owned park -- a patch of green space south of Middle Country Road called Bartlett Pond Park -- was the site of tree clearing in April, said John Pavacic, executive director of the Central Pine Barrens Commission.

The clearing took place after a request from a local civic group, the Longwood Alliance, which said it wanted to move the playground because it was dangerously close to the pond, according to group member Tom Talbot. The group also wanted to build a nature trail and expressed concern that invasive plants were taking over the park's eastern edge and choking out trees, he said.

The Pine Barrens Commission told town officials they could clear just under one third of an acre and stay in compliance with the Pine Barrens Act, Pavacic said. But the town appears to have cleared more than four times that, he said.

Brookhaven officials said they are complying with the commission's inquiry.

But town councilwoman Connie Kepert, a former Longwood Alliance president who represents the area, said the commission's decision to investigate is wrongheaded because the clearing saved the park from an overgrowth of invasive plants.

"It really underscores that they are not using common sense if they are investigating something like this," she said. "What this kind of thing does is: It gives environmentalists a bad name."

Pavacic said the Pine Barrens Commission will release its findings at its May 18 meeting. He added that the town did not inform the commission its clearing efforts would involve removing invasive plants, and the inquiry will address that, too. Kepert says the parks department had the commission's permission to remove invasives.

"Based on what we've been able to see right now, a significant amount of vegetation appears to have been removed from the wooded, western half of the property," Pavacic said.

The park, which also includes a set of war memorials, has been plagued by invasive plants such as Japanese honeysuckle, multiflora rose and Oriental bittersweet, said town spokesman Jack Krieger. A tree in the park bears a town notice that clearing was authorized for "natural vegetation."

Krieger said the plants were "overtaking the natural environment, killing a few trees."

Pavacic said the commission could order the town to revegetate the area -- which Krieger said the town intends to do. The investigation will look into the roles played by the town and the Longwood Alliance in the clearing, Pavacic said.

Talbot said the alliance can't be held responsible for the clearing but added that "hopefully we'll be able to come to a plan with the Pine Barrens for how to rectify what happened."