ELIZABETHTOWN — People once took their brush and small branches to the local trash-transfer station.

Once a month or so, the town had a controlled burn to dispose of what had been dropped off.

But new State Department of Environmental Conservation regulations that go into effect Wednesday will change all that.

Individuals won’t be able to legally burn anything except for small campfires, brush and agricultural waste. Even those will require a permit within the Adirondack Park.

And towns that had DEC permits for burning brush have been told they will not be renewed.

REJECTED

Supervisors in Wilmington, Moriah, Schroon, Westport, Essex and other towns all said they tried to renew about-to-expire burning permits and were rejected.

The new regulation ends municipal burning of brush but still allows individuals to burn it.

DEC officials say the change is designed to reduce pollution and the number of forest fires, but some members of the Essex County Board of Supervisors believe it will just encourage more homeowners to burn.

Board of Supervisors Chair Cathy Moses (R-Schroon) said people will be burning at home because they can’t take anything to a municipal site.

“I have great concern about that. I have air-quality issues where people are burning in their yards. People who have asthma and breathing problems have issues. I think it’s going to be a real problem.”

ENFORCEMENT

Although the new burn ban targets backyard burn barrels, which are allegedly heavy polluters, it also bans the burning of leaves, newspapers and agricultural plastics, such as hay-bale wraps.