Turtles said to be endangering Pond Eddy bridge project

By DAVID HULSE

GLEN SPEY — Much like the endangered mussel that slowed the upstream Barryville-Shohola bridge replacement project last year, Lumberland Supervisor John LiGreci says a protected turtle species in Pond Eddy might scotch plans to replace the interstate bridge there.

LiGreci said his conversation with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) personnel revealed that the turtles’ presence was detected in the federally protected scenic river during required pre-construction studies.

LiGreci told the town board on June 12 that the presence of the unnamed turtle species would require that either all the turtles be relocated or the replacement project moved a short distance upstream, closer to the mouth of the Mill Brook.

The supervisor said a relocation would require that all the completed preliminary studies, several hundred thousand dollars worth, be repeated. He said he got the impression that the $6 million project was now in question. “I’m not sure they’ll do it. They may walk away from it,” he told a constituent later in the June 12 session.

DEC Albany spokesman Peter Constantakes said DEC does have a field worker on the site, whom he has not been able to contact. However, neither he nor the regional office has heard of what LiGreci was reporting. “We don’t know anything about turtles,” he said.

By agreement under the New York-Pennsylvania Interstate Bridge Commission, PennDOT is responsible for the Pond Eddy bridge project. PennDOT Region 4-0 spokesman in Dunmore, Dave Krisanda, said the turtles are news to them.

Concerning the turtles, Krisanda said, “I checked with our project manager for the Pond Eddy Bridge Project, our bridge unit and our environmental unit and no one here at PennDOT District 4-0 has heard anything about any turtles found at the bridge project site.”

National Park Service Upper Delaware Superintendent Sandra Schultz agreed that she had heard nothing of turtles in Pond Eddy either.

While there has been recent concern in the media about the loss of the landmark existing bridge, LiGreci said the town has taken no position against the bridge replacement. “We just want to make sure that the new bridge doesn’t lose its character. A lot of people have a vested interest in the beauty of the bridge,” he said.

In other business last week, the town board heard Highway Superintendent Charles Hallock report that replacing 300-foot section of the Low Road, which is being eroded by the nearby Mill Brook, will cost between $250,000 and $500,000, and heard LiGreci report that he will solicit the aid of the Sullivan County Supervisors Association next week in his effort to restore some properties held by not-for-profit corporations to the local tax rolls.