Using Natural Resource Inventories in Designating Critical Environmental Areas (CEAs)

November 29, 2023; 3:00 – 4:00 p.m; virtual meeting

This meeting was offered by the Hudson River Estuary Program, Cornell University, Hudsonia, and Planting Westchester.

This webinar is presented through a partnership with Cornell University and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Hudson River Estuary Program with funding from the New York State Environmental Protection Fund.

Presentation pdfs available here.

Critical Environmental Areas (CEAs) are areas officially designated by counties or municipalities to alert landowners, developers, and regulatory agencies to features of importance or concern during environmental review under the State Environmental Quality Review process.

Gretchen Stevens, Director Emerita of the Biodiversity Resources Center at Hudsonia, presented the process of designating CEAs, with recent examples in the Hudson Valley, including areas with ecologically significant habitats (cool ravines, large forests, vernal pool complexes, a rare wetland type, rare species locations, high-quality streams), an unconsolidated aquifer, and the watershed of a warm spring. The meeting will address convening a working group, approaches to using natural resource inventories for this purpose, engaging with and informing landowners within a proposed CEA and the general public, and the step-by-step process of identifying, delineating, describing, and adopting a CEA.

See additional information about past CEA training’s here and here. Review a list of the CEA’s on the NYSDEC website here