The Big Apple is greening its suburban trees.
New York City is selling off large amounts of logged forest land it manages around the 2,000-square-mile northern reservoir system that provides water to the city’s 9 million residents.
The Environmental Protection Agency sells timber cut from dead, diseased and overgrown trees from more than 200,000 acres around reservoirs in the Catskill region, a buffer zone that protects the city’s water supply.
Timber companies typically purchase timber from Gotham foresters.
The offering includes an estimated 187,000 square feet of hardwood lumber and 89 cords of hardwood pulp, according to a notice issued by the DEP to bidders.
Each piece can weigh up to 5,000 pounds, or 2.5 tons.
The timber products being sold are part of the Carpenter’s Eddy East Forest Management Project, located off State Route 10 in Delaware County.
“This sale consists primarily of mature red oak and white ash lands, the first to be managed in the area in nearly 80 years,” the DEP said.
Last year, the DEP sold 901,289 feet of timber and 1,338 cords of firewood for $156,000.
This made New York City one of the state’s largest suppliers of wood products.
So far this fiscal year, DEP has sold 249,596 feet of timber and 310 cords of firewood.
The huge urban reservoir system in and around the Catskill region is the size of the state of Delaware.
This gives the Big Apple a major presence in the North.
New York City is the largest taxpayer among the four upstate New York counties, and the DEP manages the 85-mile-long Delaware Aqueduct, the longest water tunnel in the world.
Thousands of state residents enjoy fishing, hiking, hunting and boating in the city’s watersheds, which are rich in clear waterways and hiking trails.
Last year, the city issued 23,173 hiking and hunting permits, 2,103 boating/fishing permits and 1,232 recreational boat permits.
