WHITE LAKE, NY — The upcoming Catbird Music Festival and discussion concerning a fowl situation were the talking points at the Town of Bethel board meeting. The board met at its usual lakeside location at the Dr. Duggan Community Center on July 12. 

Facing the music

On August 19 and 20, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts will host its newest addition to the festival circuit, the Catbird Music Festival. The historic Woodstock site will offer various indie-pop artists like Band of Horses, James Bay and Dispatch. Headliners The Lumineers and Tyler Childers will also make appearanced, capping off each night. 

With five weeks to go until the festival, Bethel Woods had begun making preparations for incoming fans. Lauren Jahoda, director of operations and events, and Paul Lloyd, general manager, appeared before the board on Wednesday night to review the traffic management plan for the weekend. 

As has been done for prior festivals such as Mystery Land and Mountain Jam, a traffic plan will be put in place to control traffic and ensure safety. The venue expects to receive 12,000 festival-goers, which is 4,000 less than maximum capacity. Of the total number of attendees, 4,000 guests will be camping on the property, Jahoda said. 

Jahoda outlined the traffic plan, saying that on Friday night, August 18, Bethel Woods will open the site, with campers asked that they remain in the designated area. However, there was no guarantee that there will not be weekend traffic due to campers leaving the venue, she said. Bethel Woods is anticipating the highest volume of traffic to occur during the hours of 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. through the weekend. Jahoda said that there is an emergency medical services route planned. 

From Friday night to Sunday night, West Shore Road will be closed. There will be staff on either end of the road to direct concert and local traffic. 

To keep the community informed, Bethel Woods will be posting messages on its social media accounts concerning updates. The board agreed with the presented traffic management plan and passed the motion. 

Silence of the geese

The newly founded White Lake Lake Owners Association partnered with the USDA to address the geese population in Kauneonga and White Lakes. In a July 14 press release, the association wrote that with the assistance of the USDA, it sought to collect data concerning the water quality and the impact that the Canadian goose population has on the lakes. 

Town supervisor Daniel Sturm was informed that neither organization had authorization to kill the geese without implementing less drastic actions of control. The Town of Bethel board estimated that the geese population was rounded up and slaugthered between June 15 and July 4. 

At dusk, to the town board’s understanding, the geese were corralled to a private property on the lake where pickup trucks with cages awaited. Once wrangled into the cages, the geese were transported to a separate location and gassed, residents said. The board was unaware of the night’s events until the next day. 

Sturm said that he had contacted the USDA and informed the organization that it did not have permission to harm or kill any geese. If the organization stuck to this type of plan of action, he required a phone call in advance, he said.

The board is not unfamiliar with complaints throughout the lakeside towns as well as Smallwood concerning the geese. However, at the meeting the board disagreed with the inhumane treatment of the wildlife.

Town councilwoman Lillian Hendrickson said that according to the Humane Society of the United States, goose roundups and killings do not produce a permanent solution. Methods such as light-emitting devices, decoys and trained goose-herding dogs can assist in humanely controlling the goose population. 

Via a Freedom of Information Law request (FOIL), board members are seeking information on what permits were issued, what application was used to apply for the permit, what testing was done to indicate that the geese may have been the issue causing them to be exterminated and what petition was used to gather the permit. This petition would have needed at least 60 signatures from the lake homeowners.

Hendrickson closed by saying, “What some consider to be a nuisance, others consider to be beautiful.”

Additionally, a letter to the USDA is being drafted on behalf of the town, expressing the concerns the community has on the killing of the goose population. 

In the July 14 press release from the homeowners association, the organization said that the initiative was not taken lightly and research and careful consideration went into the program. The association noted that there were concerns in the water quality, community’s health and ecosystem balance. 

“All geese captured were processed for human consumption at a licensed NYS Agriculture and Markets processing facility and were donated to area food banks,” the press release stated. 

The board worked on the FOIL request that was sent on July 17. 

“We have always been in favor of a reasonable goose-management plan... but the difference, in our view, they went right to the killing part as opposed to the goose-management part,” Sturm said. 

The USDA did not reply to a request for information by press time.

Announcements

The board closed the meeting by informing the public of the town’s upcoming events.

Saturday, July 22: car wash and bake sale at the White Lake Presbyterian Church, taking place from 12 noon to 3 p.m.

Wednesday, July 26: Town board meeting at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, July 29: Kauneonga Lake Fire Department Chicken BBQ from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. (or until sold out)

Saturday, July 29: Hector’s Inn car show at 12 noon

Saturdays: Kauneonga Lake Farmers and Makers Market from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.