State DEC probes after trees cut from Huntington wetland area

The state Department of Environmental Conservation said it is investigating after trees were removed without permission from a wetland area adjacent to an emergency services helipad in Huntington.

The DEC said it launched an investigation on Nov. 6. after it received a complaint that dozens of trees, mostly saplings, were cut in the area adjacent to designated freshwater wetlands in Mill Dam Pond Park.

State DEC rules require that residents or municipalities obtain a permit or permission from the agency for any work conducted in a wetland area.

“The investigation is ongoing, and DEC will take enforcement action for any unauthorized activity,” the agency said in an email on Monday.

The DEC, citing ongoing investigation, did not offer additional details, including who filed the complaint.

Town Supervisor Ed Smyth said the trees were removed after a pilot from the Suffolk County Police Aviation squad complained to the town’s General Services Department that trees and growth around the helipad were hindering sight lines causing safety and visibility issues. General Services oversees maintenance of town properties.

The helipad, which is on town-owned property, is between the town sewage treatment center and ballfields on Mill Dam Road. It is used for emergency services only, including by nearby Huntington Hospital, Suffolk police or the U.S. Coast Guard, Smyth said.

The department “considered the pilot’s observation and took the trees down on an emergency basis to ensure emergency helicopter operations were not interrupted,” Smyth said.

The Suffolk County Police Department did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Smyth said the work was done outside the wetland boundary, but still in a protected area.

He said General Services did not get approval for the work from anyone else within the town or the DEC, as required.

“There is a 100-foot buffer zone surrounding the wetland that still needs DEC approval to do any type of planting, cutting or building in the area,” Smyth said.

Smyth said the town is investigating protocols in the General Services Department.

He said the town will work with the DEC to remedy the situation, including coming up with a “planting scheme that is consistent with wetland areas but at the same time will not interfere with emergency operations going forward.”

Halesite resident Laura Fontana, 68, who said she walks about two times a week in the park, said she didn’t know about the helipad.

“If someone responding to emergencies is telling the town there is a safety concern, the town needs to be able to do what it can do to make it safer,” she said.