Law enforcement begins

Zoar Valley sweeps

Agencies team up

to reduce falling from rugged terrain

By Elmer Ploetz
News Southtowns Bureau

     It’s never clear when or where it will happen, but there is one thing predictable about visitors to Zoar Valley: Some will fall.
     Sometimes it’s off a 150-foot cliff. Sometimes it’s headfirst down a waterfall — and onto the rocks.
     And police and rescue agencies end up responding in one of the most beautiful — and dangerous — places in Western New York.
     That’s why this summer, law enforcement agencies that patrol Zoar have joined together to coordinate sweeps in an attempt to keep people out of places they shouldn’t be and at times when they shouldn’t be there.
     “People who are down there after dark may not know the area,” said Lt. Thomas Bradigan of the Cattaraugus County Sheriffs Department. "There are many cliffs, waterfalls and other danger areas they may stumble onto.”
     And they do stumble onto them. On June 23, a 21-year-old man from the City of Tonawanda was flown out by the Erie County Sheriff’s Department AirOne helicopter.
     In April, a Collins Center man was rescued after falling at least 40 feet into the gorge, near the point where an East Randolph woman died from a 150-foot fall last August.
     Last summer, there were at least five other rescue operations in Zoar.
     "The typical fall is not unlike somebody falling from the eave of your house to the ground, onto boulders and rocks,” said Capt. Daniel Richter, a New York State forest ranger. “What happens as a result is what we get to see.”
     This summer’s sweeps will include forest rangers, state troopers, Department of Environmental Conservation officers and Cattaraugus County sheriff’s deputies.
     The coordination came in the wake of last year’s flurry of rescues, following meetings set up last October by the late State Sen. Patricia K. McGee, R-Franklinville, and then-Assemblywoman Catharine Young, R-Olean, who has succeeded McGee as senator.
     “Because we had different properties down there, each of us has different jurisdictions,” said Richter. “We thought that it would be beneficial to work together on some cooperative efforts, to the extent that we can.”
     The advantages, Richter said, include the ability for officers to work at least in pairs, plus taking advantage of different officers’ enforcement abilities. Park rangers, for example, can’t handle trespassing on private property. Sheriffs deputies and troopers can.
     In addition, there is the issue of where authority begins and ends. Zoar Valley is a jurisdictional nightmare for law enforcement, with a combination of state and private land, plus Cattaraugus Creek dividing Erie and Cattaraugus counties.
     Gowanda village police often end up helping out, even though it’s not in their jurisdiction. They’re frequently the closest in the case of an emergency call.
     Likewise, the topography makes rescues difficult. In one of the most scenic areas of the region, the Forty Road bridge has long been closed, keeping fire and rescue squads from Gowanda and Otto from being able to physically meet when they’re working together.
     “Even though we’re so close together, we’re so far apart,” said Otto Fire Chief Joe Grube. “And there’s very spotty cellular coverage down there, or people who have to run out, which even at good speed is often over half an hour.”
     Richter said if the sweeps achieve their goals, they will reduce stress on fire and rescue workers.
     “The firemen down there are absolutely super,” he said. “But it’s pretty taxing on them. When they’re down in the gorge doing rescues, they’re not available outside of there. It creates a lot of push and pull on their manpower and their resources.”