NY's Largest Endangered Atlantic White Cedar to be Destroyed

Contributed by Denis Castelli

In November 1996, Mr. Martin Brech of Mahopac, NY, (Putnam County's Tree Advisory Commissioner) discovered two specimens of Atlantic White Cedar on a 12-acre site in the town of Southeast (Brewster) New York. The larger of the two trees is approximately 40 feet tall. Its circumference is nearly 7 feet. Its diameter is approximately 2 1/3 feet. The other specimen is slightly smaller and is about 100 feet distant from the first.

Atlantic White Cedar / Chamaecyparis Thyoides is on New York State's list of endangered trees. Upon its discovery, the larger of the two trees took the position of the largest specimen known to exist in New York State. Its diameter is more than 10 inches larger than the previous record.

Mr. Brech referred to the New York State Protected Plan List to confirm his suspicions as to the scarcity of these trees and followed-up by requesting confirmation from experts of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in New Paltz. Mr. Robert Messenger, a D.E.C. Forester sent to examine the trees, confirmed the find.

Hoyts Cinemas, of Boston, MA and of Australia, owns the land and plans to clearcut this lot, thereby destroying these endangered trees. They plan to construct a 14-screen movie complex with seating a parking for more than 2,000 individuals on the 12 acre site which presently houses the trees. (Hellman and Friedman, a California investment firm, owns Hoyts Cinemas.) Mr. Brech appealed to the Southeast Planning Board to resist Hoyts desire to clearcut the lot and was dismissed as a "tree hugger" for his efforts.

Mr. Brech took samples from the specimens and sent them to Mr. Edward A. Cope, Assistant Curator and Extension Botanist of the L.H. Bailey Hortorium at Cornell University in Ithaca. Mr. Cope promptly confirmed that the trees are undoubtedly Chamaecyparis Thyoides and noted a relationship to the rare and endangered Hessels Hairstreak Butterfly, which feeds on Atlantic White Cedar.

The findings of Mr. Cope, Mr. Messenger, and Mr. Brech were forwarded to the Southeast Town and Planning Boards. Two weeks later, one of the Town Board members called Mr. Brech stating that the boards did not accept the identification made by the experts mentioned above, but instead took the word of an arborist hired by Hoyts, who identified the trees as mature specimens of a garden variety cedar.

Unfortunately, since Hoyts owns the property, they may remove these trees without legal recourse, regardless of the genus of the trees. The Environmental Impact Study (EIS), presented to the board by Hoyts, states that no trees older than 100 years exist on the property... and apparently, the Southeast Boards agree. Records indicate that at least one specimen of the Hessels Hairstreak Butterfly has been discovered in Putnam County.

Can anything be done to prevent the destruction of these magnificent trees, which provide a home for an equally rare species of butterfly?

... Butterfly WebSite Environmental Alert - NY's Largest Endangered Atlantic White Cedar to be Destroyed