Fredonia Trustee Jon Espersen no longer supports logging the village reservoir property.

Logging at the Fredonia Reservoir looks unlikely to go forward after a key supporter withdrew his blessing.

Village Trustee Jon Espersen said last week he changed his mind after speaking with some SUNY Fredonia professors about the reservoir, and the potential impact that cutting trees could have on it.

SEspersen told a village Board of Trustees meeting that he, fellow Trustee Paul Wandel, and Mayor Michael Ferguson met with SUNY Fredonia geology and environmental sciences professors at the university.

“There was a long discussion, probably a third of which I understood because I’m not a science major,” Espersen said. “They went over the rate of erosion, the amount of soil that has entered the reservoir, they showed us where the landslides were.

“You know, I walked away from that meeting thinking that as long as the reservoir is used as a source for our drinking water, my opinion is, we don’t forest it until such time — if such time comes — that we are no longer using it for drinking water. I just don’t think it would be safe, at this point, based on everything I heard, for us to forest it right now. My recommendation is we put that on hold.”

Trustee Michelle Twichell, an opponent of logging the reservoir property, thanked Espersen for shifting his stance.

Espersen originally proposed the logging — or more precisely, revisited the issue. Ferguson has said prior village officials contracted for the logging on two separate occasions, but the job was never done.