More legal hassles for a Burlco farmer

Prominent Burlington County farmer James Durr is in trouble with the government - again.

A federal grand jury last month indicted Durr, 55, for allegedly making false statements to authorities and "taking" at least one bog turtle. The turtles are native to New Jersey and have been federally protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1997, largely due to habitat loss.

The alleged acts against the species, scientifically known as Clemmys muhlenbergii, occurred on Durr's Turtle Creek Farm in North Hanover.

It is the latest in a series of problems for Durr, a major flower farmer who appears close to resolving a long-running dispute with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection after an administrative law judge recently ruled in his favor.

Durr, a Republican and a former mayor of North Hanover, continues to serve as a township committeeman for the rural community of 7,000.

Said fellow committeeman William Tilton: "When you're as large a farmer as he is, and you've got a business the size of his business, you're bound to have issues with everybody or at least someone. . . . I don't think anyone should form an opinion until after the end result is in."

Durr, whose business operations cover at least 1,200 acres in the farm belt spanning northern Burlington County, grows cut flowers and woody ornamental materials that are sold through his company, James Durr Wholesale Florist Inc. He has testified that his farming business was unusual in that it does not deal in "common agricultural commodities," and that that was a factor in his success.

His older brother, Larry Durr, is a township committeeman in neighboring Chesterfield, where their father was also an elected official.

Acting on a tip, the DEP issued Durr a notice of violation in 2006, claiming that he had cut four acres of wooded wetlands without the required state approvals, which also allegedly disturbed a bog turtle habitat. That agency said that the matter was pending before the Office of Administrative Law and that Durr would be on the hook for $380,000 in fines if the DEP prevailed.

The agency also referred the matter to the federal government, according to Wolf Skacel, assistant commissioner of compliance and enforcement at the DEP.

That referral apparently led to the indictment, which stated that Durr was informed of the presence and location of bog turtles on Turtle Creek Farm when he acquired the land in 2005. Authorities said he was also aware of previous work there to enhance the turtle habitat with money from the federal Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program.

After Durr allegedly began clearing a buffer of trees framing each side of a creek there, an employee of the Natural Resource Conservation Service told him that his activities were occurring in a wetlands area and that there was concern they could affect bog turtles downstream.

The indictment said that as a result of Durr's activities, 8 to 12 inches of silt had eroded off the farm fields and stream banks and were deposited in a core bog turtle habitat by November 2006. By June 2007, about two feet of coarse sand and fine gravel sediment had been deposited in the stream channel, according to the indictment.

Authorities allege Durr "did knowingly and unlawfully take at least one bog turtle" - to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or try to do so.

Durr's attorney, Peter Bennett, said in a written statement that he was confident Durr would be acquitted.

Prosecutors "have charged Mr. Durr's cutting of trees on his farm in 2005 annoyed or harmed at least one bog turtle in 2006 or 2007 due to rainwater runoff," Bennett said. "It is unfortunate that the federal government has elected to expend substantial resources to pursue this matter criminally."

Durr has had previous run-ins with the U.S. government.

From 2000 to 2002, the IRS attached liens to Durr's property in an effort to collect more than $200,000 in unpaid taxes. The taxes were paid off by 2004, according to records on file with the county clerk's office.

A federal investigation of an accident that killed three migrant farm workers and seriously injured four in 2002 resulted in the U.S. Department of Labor's fining Durr $24,400. The department said it charged Durr with failing to provide safe transport vehicles for workers on a farm labor contractor's crew.

The current federal charges note that Durr was cited by the DEP in 2003 for violations related to the "unauthorized and illegal clearing and excavation of freshwater wetlands for construction of a farm pond to provide irrigation to plant stock for his business." Durr made false statements in 2006 to DEP officials in relation to the case, according to the indictment.

In that matter, New Jersey Administrative Law Judge Jeff Maslin rendered an initial decision on the violation in Durr's favor in January.

Maslin's decision is subject to approval, rejection or modification by the DEP commissioner. No final determination has been made, but a DEP spokeswoman said Durr could face up to $125,000 in fines.

"This is an unfortunate situation," the DEP's Skacel said. "By and large, the farm community is very observant of our environmental protection regulations and go out of their way to avoid noncompliance."

Dick Toone, a farm owner who sits on the township council in neighboring Springfield, expressed disgust at the DEP's actions against Durr.

"I'm sure the people in town that know him support him and not the government," he said. "The DEP is full of righteous lawyers and animal-rights people that all work out of textbooks and aren't in the real world."

The U.S. Department of Justice said the maximum penalty for violating the Endangered Species Act was up to six months in prison and a $25,000 fine, and the maximum for making a false statement up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.