Chautauqua Lake
State officials are trying to clear up confusion over how revisions to the state’s Freshwater Wetlands Act could impact Chautauqua Lake.
The State Department of Environmental Conservation held a zoom conference with Chautauqua County, town, and village officials on March 11.
In 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law historic revisions to the Freshwater Wetlands Act. Under the original act passed in 1975, a protected wetland must be 12.4 acres. Wetlands smaller than this may be protected if they are considered of unusual local importance. Around every wetland is an ‘adjacent area’ of 100 feet that is also regulated to provide protection for the wetland.
DEC Officer Roy “JR” Jacobson said regulatory maps being used are outdated in terms of where wetlands actually exist in the state, “For Chautauqua Lake that’s a significant thing because the statute says submerged aquatic vegetation is a wetland plant and in the past we’d only regulate those sections of the lake that were on our regulatory map. That’s going to change come January 2025.”
Jacobson said about 1 million acres of wetland are missing from the old maps.
He said one of the changes is not scheduled to happen until 2028 when the size of an area to be considered a wetland will reduce from 12.4 acres to 7.4 acres. He said there will be portions of Chautauqua Lake that will meet those new regulations.
However, Jacobson, said there will be exemptions within those wetland areas, “If somebody already has a dock out there and they’re just maintaining that or taking it in and out seasonally, that’s all unregulated. That is an exempt activity. New docks though, yeah, that will need permits. We regulate the wetland within 100 feet of the wetland boundaries, so for the lots that are adjacent to the lake, there may be permitting that’s needed, but again, any maintenance or repair of existing structures is exempt.”
Jacobson said the use of herbicides won’t be ruled out in wetland areas, “We still have our aquatic pesticide permit that has to be issued, but what I envision having is a general permit that allows the treatment of wetlands, the treatment of vegetation in the wetland and adjacent area as long as it meets the aquatic pesticide permit requirements.”
Jacobson said the statewide maps are supposed to be made available by October or November. He added that there will be additional opportunities for public input on these changes
Comments can be submitted by mail to:
DEC – Division of Fish and Wildlife
625 Broadway
Albany NY 12233-4756
or via E-mail to: WetlandRegulatoryComments@dec.ny.gov
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