Recently, the Stop The Clear Cut Group (STCC) announced they had a new expert witness to support the idea that trees offer stability on vegetated embankment slopes on the canal.  I wrote to both 'experts' because their comments flew directly in the face of FEMA, Association of Dam Safety Officers, and USACE and NYDEC.

The first expert testified to the Wayne County Court that  trees offered stability of vegetated slopes, and I queried that with Professor Donald H Gray (see - https://eriecanalfacts.wordpress.com/2018/04/19/testimony-in-question-vegetation-on-dams/) and he stated -
“I don’t know of any earth dams where woody vegetation was purposely planted or allowed to grow on a face of the dam.“

When I pointed out to Dr Gray that he had been intentionally mis-informed regarding the 'slopes' and that they were actually water impoundments with trees, hovering over hundreds of properties and lives, he sought legal advice.

Similarly, Dr David Rosgen (Wildland Hydrology) was approached by the STCC and offered a similar 'story' because he was another expert on stabilising stream embankments with trees. His initial response was similar to Dr Gray's, until I pointed out to him that he was actually dealing with an earthen embankment dam with millions of gallons of water hovering over an area build in a dam hazard creep zone.  ( A place where property should never have been built).
He quickly recanted his initial comments and clarified it with this statement.
"It is my opinion that in this matter, the trees present a high risk related to mass wasting processes due to the saturation of fill and embankments, and water stages that are raised higher than the surrounding original floodplains."

So!  We have the only two experts the STCC has come up with, who have both recanted their original statements, and now agree with the NYPA the NYCC, FEMA, USACE, ASDSO and NYDEC. Trees have NO PLACE ON A DAM!

 Our local town officials have wasted over $36,000 in legal fees to attempt to harass and stop the much needed remediation project to make our canal safe. I hate to ask the NYPA how much they have spent directly defending their position, but sufficient to say their budget went up from $55 M to over $90M this year and much of that has to be due to the seriously dilapidated state of this canal and the extensive repair program they have embarked on.

Please note the the STCC Facebook page has now gone dark, and only members can read there. No comments have been made regarding their experts recanting their statements. 

It's time our local officials stepped away from the STCC, as it is now quite obvious they are not working in the general public's best interests from a safety point of view. The Canal Authority needs to be freed to carry out the important work so desperately needed before there is a catastrophic breach of these very poorly maintained earthen embankment dams.

Erie Canal Embankment Dam Question FINALLY put to REST
https://ecna.createaforum.com/general-discussion/important-announcement-coming-soon/msg178/#msg178

Stop the Clear Cut Expert Agrees with NY Canal Corporation on proper Embankment Covering
https://ecna.createaforum.com/notices-from-the-canal-authority/check-the-ecna-forum-for-important-information-on-december-8-134/msg180/#msg180

The ECNA has recently uncovered the REAL truth regarding this Trees vs Grass question. 
https://ecna.createaforum.com/the-stop-the-clearcut-argument/check-the-ecna-forum-for-important-information-on-december-8/msg179/#msg179


See also
www.eriecanalfacts.wordpress.com

Michael Caswell
Erie Canal Neighbors Association

www.ecna.us