Group disputes tree removal
BUTLER TWP — Some residents and visitors say they have seen too many logs leaving Preston Park while it was closed over the winter to remove storm-damaged trees.
Mickey Fazzino, a resident and leader of the United to Preserve Preston Park Facebook page, said there have been questionable decisions made regarding work in the conservation areas that go against Jane Preston's memorandum.
“My concern and the group's concern is in the memorandum,” Fazzino said.
The memorandum and list of advisory board members is on the Preston Park website.
Fazzino said the memorandum specifically states that the designated conservation areas should remain untouched, but some trees were cut down and one pond was filled in.
Cheryl McNeill, township assistant manager, said work in Preston Park has not disregarded the memorandum, and Bob Schott, a friend of the Prestons before their passing and the lawyer who wrote Jane's memorandum, is consistently consulted on park matters, including the forest management.
Since 2011, the township has consulted at least 11 different experts, including botanists, horticulturalists and foresters. Around half of these experts came from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
McNeill said Bob Carlberg, a township resident and certified forester, presented an 8- to 10-year plan to the commissioners in late 2017.
Later that year, township supervisors approved the plans, which involved offsetting costs of culling dead trees by harvesting healthy trees already recommended by experts to help foster growth in the forest. The selected trees were denoted with a pink ribbon for the past 1½ years.
“They looked at trying to make some money off the trees that needed to be taken out,” McNeill said.
Then the storm struck, taking down trees that were marked and unmarked, healthy and unhealthy.
Read the rest of this report in Wednesday's print edition of the Butler Eagle.
