{"id":38404,"date":"2025-11-13T16:38:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T16:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/38404\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T16:38:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T16:38:11","slug":"queens-man-saws-down-trees-on-protected-wetlands-angering-nature-lovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/38404\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens man saws down trees on protected wetlands, angering nature lovers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Environmental advocates are outraged after trees were illegally chopped down on protected land in New York City.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The homeowner who cut down the trees in College Point, Queens, said he had a valid reason and was not trying to break the law.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Powell’s Cove Park trees cut down<\/p>\n

Kat Cervino, an environmentalist and co-founder of Coastal Preservation Network, knows every inch of Powell’s Cove Park<\/a>, which made it even more of a shock when she saw a man taking a saw to a cluster of trees on protected wetlands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I was walking here getting ready to plan our cleanup, a beach cleanup that we were having,” Cervino said. “To see somebody just cutting down trees is a horror.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"elle-6p-pkg-neighbor-ch-wcbsfr4h-hi-res-still-00-00-1717.jpg<\/p>\n

New York City environmental advocates were outraged after trees were illegally chopped down on protected land at Powell’s Cove Park in Queens in Nov. 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CBS News New York<\/p>\n

The New York City Parks Department website <\/a>says the park “was envisaged as a waterfront park to protect tidal wetlands and the natural environment of the marshland region.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Damaging trees on public land is illegal and may result in hefty fines, or even jail time, according to the Parks Department.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Cervino said the wetlands were previously damaged by residents’ illegal decks, and that the coastline trees are a vital buffer against erosion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This is a wildlife habitat,” she said.<\/p>\n

Man vows to replant trees after realizing mistake<\/p>\n

College Point homeowner Manuel Rueda, 84, said he cut down the trees as a last resort, even though many nature lovers thought it might have been a thoughtless act to simply get a better view of the water.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rueda said invasive bamboo overtook a walking path and crept toward his home.<\/p>\n

\"elle-6p-pkg-neighbor-ch-wcbsfr4h-hi-res-still-00-01-0427.jpg<\/p>\n

Records show College Point, Queens, homeowner Manuel Rueda sent pruning requests to the NYC Parks Department.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Manuel Rueda<\/p>\n

“If I don’t do anything, it’s going to get the foundation. That’s no good,” said Rueda, who works in graphic design.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Records show six pruning requests that he sent to the Parks Department went nowhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rueda said he regrets chopping down the trees himself and vowed to replant double the amount he removed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I feel so bad because of the trees, not because of the bamboo. But for trees, I feel so bad,” he said “I don’t want to do anything that’s against the law.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cervino sees it as teaching moment and hopes for better signage and enforcement from the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I hope the destruction will end and that it can be restored,” she said.<\/p>\n

No one has been charged or fined over the Powell’s Cove Park trees at this time, city parks officials said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Mark Prussin<\/a><\/p>\n

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