Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) members are scheduled to review an application to cut sawtimber at a hilly forested parcel near Wilderness West Road. The IWC is slated to consider the logging application under the terms of the town's forestry practices regulations when it meets at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, July 12, at Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street.

Known as the Batista Timber Harvest 2017, the work is proposed for acreage near the Bethel town line, which is owned by Eduardo Batista of Newtown. Forester Daniel Lawrence of Peter Marlowe Forest Products, LLC, of Guilford is the applicant on behalf of Mr Batista.

According to the IWC application, the timbering project would involve the thinning of trees standing on a 48-acre section of a 77-acre parcel off Wilderness West Road.

Besides removing sawtimber from the forest, the project would include the removal of diseased, damaged, and poor quality trees from the property. That work would improve the forest's general health and increase its biological diversity.

The land contains a stream, plus a wetlands area where no tree cutting would occur, according to the application.

The tree removal project would follow the "best management practices" specified for such work by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, according to the applicant. The sawtimber that would be removed would be hand cut.

The project would remove about one-third of the trees that comprise the "overstory" at the 48-acre cutting area. The overstory forms the highest layer of vegetation in a forest.

The project would require one stream crossing for access to the cutting site. Portable bridges would be used to provide access by equipment.

The applicant describes various environmental protection measures that would be taken to protect the water quality of wetlands and watercourses at the site. When underway, work would occur Mondays through Saturdays, from 7 am to 5 pm.