Images of a Completed Cottage Site in Silver Lake Wetlands

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Above left image of cars parked in middle of wetland vegetation (click here for larger view). The road access parking lot became subject of a Notice Of Violation of the Natural Resource Protection Act (click here), the NRPA. I called the DEP enforcement staff on this apparent violation because these areas are supposedly natural resources protected by law. I felt violations should be reported to prevent further compromise to the resource, and my concern was that parking in areas which see seasonal rises in water levels from Silver Lake which flood these areas would necessarily introduce pollutants into the watershed from which I draw my water.

This road and lot was used throughout the construction and the rental of the house from the onset of construction of the house through September at the end of the rental season, when DEP finally inspected the site. I had notified them in March and they came down to the site in September, 6 months later. They finally issued a NOV in October. In the shot on the right you can see the extent of the flooding on April 2 of this year. The corner of the house is the same in both shots. The water is still there as of July (see here). This water is connected to the main body of Silver Lake and thus to the rest of the larger watershed.

The profusion of wetland vegetation in the picture of the obscured cars on the left shows the health of the wetlands around the parking lot carved out of them. These wetlands are, by law, a Protected Natural Resource and any alteration or use such as this must permitted by the State under federal law. The road construction was not part of the DEP Tier 1 Wetlands Alteration Permit (see discussion of Tier 1 permits here) for this project. The owner of the property, was cited for a violation of the Natural Resource Protection Act, but WAS NOT FINED.