Letter from Janice Hall

Partial Observer Is for the Birds

The recent opinion piece (“The Partial Observer: Can Otsego’s Birds Survive Proposed Manocherian Development?” published July 30, 2026) asking whether Otsego’s birds can survive the proposed Manocherian development presents regional bird counts and roadside observations as proof of environmental harm. They are not.

The most important fact is buried beneath the rhetoric: The developers estimate that approximately 55 acres would be cleared from a 1,525-acre property. That is about 3.6 percent of the total land, leaving approximately 1,470 acres undeveloped.

Clearing any land deserves careful review, particularly near wetlands or important habitat. However, it is misleading to describe this proposal as though 1,525 acres of forest, farmland and wetlands will be destroyed. They will not.

Birds observed along nearby roads, at Glimmerglass State Park, along Red House Hill or within a multi-mile Breeding Bird Atlas area do not prove that endangered or threatened birds are nesting on the 55 acres proposed for clearing. Nor does the number of migrating birds flying over Otsego County establish that this particular property is an indispensable stopover site.

Those questions should be answered through site-specific environmental studies, not colorful descriptions, generalized bird lists or speculation.

The revised proposal preserves the overwhelming majority of the property. With appropriate wetland buffers, open-space protections, construction timing and habitat safeguards, there is no factual basis for claiming that the development will drive birds from the area or diminish the entire ecosystem.

Otsego County needs housing, and responsible development can coexist with environmental protection. The planning boards should judge this project on engineering, data, science and the actual development footprint—not on assumptions that 55 acres of clearing will destroy a 1,525-acre landscape.

Janice Hall
Town of Otsego