Photo by Lynn K., Zoar Valley Coalition

In April 2024, over 150 acres of the much-loved public forest land in Zoar Valley, New York, was marked with spray paint for logging. The Sierra Club Niagara Group decided to join the Zoar Valley Coalition to advocate against the logging of healthy, mature trees in Zoar Valley. We are still engaged in that fight. 

• The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Connecticut/New York Chapter of the National Audubon Society have a plan to clear-cut and thin hundreds of acres of the Zoar Multiple Use Area over the next 10 years, with hundreds more acres of forest in Zoar open for logging after that. 

• In January of 2025, two Sierra Niagara Executive Committee members joined with a dozen or more people from the Zoar Valley Coalition to meet with the  NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to express our concerns regarding the logging plans for Zoar Valley. 

• As of March, 2025, the logging plan is "on hold" due to the Zoar Valley Coalition's efforts, as well as the federal government's freezing of grant funding for this Connecticut/NY Audubon forest project.

If you would like to ensure that Zoar Valley remains "forever wild", please visit Zoar Valley Coalition today and email them if you'd like to volunteer!