We were excited to hear that the Parks Department had dropped its quest to basically destroy the Ridgewood Reservoir and was instead seeking to have the entire site designated as wetlands. However, the Department of Environmental Conservation is now giving this proposal a hard time. DEC is considering each basin separately and not together. They believe that they will designate basin 2, the “pond” as a wetland due to “extraordinary community concern” despite the fact that it does not meet the acreage requirement. However, they didn't bother to look at basin 1 because it is overgrown, and basin 3 they looked at in the winter. No soil or plant testing was conducted. DEC did what most of us would consider a lazy job. The community board and elected officials have asked the DEC to complete a thorough assessment before ruling on this important habitat. After all, the entire reservoir is of “extraordinary community concern.”