Wetlands experts for the Chelsea Gardens Foundation and the lead opponent of the proposed botanical garden in Mohegan Park offered conflicting testimony during a daylong hearing Wednesday in New London Superior Court.

Charles Evans of 49 Butternut Drive, Norwich, a neighbor of the 80-acre parcel the city leased to Chelsea Gardens Foundation in 1994, has filed suit seeking a stop-work order on the grounds that tree cutting and removal has harmed wetlands on the property.

Wetlands scientist Steven Danzer of Stamford testified during the morning session that the clear-cutting of trees at the site was done without proper wetlands erosion and sediment protections, apparently in violation of state regulations.

He said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was not informed of the project and also might have had jurisdiction.

But in the afternoon hearing session, Robert Russo, a wetlands expert at CLA Engineers Inc. of Norwich, who has worked on the Chelsea Gardens project several times since 2000, testified before Judge Joseph Q. Koletsky that he examined the property extensively since the cutting.

He said he verified that the cutting was done only within the areas marked on the plans and in his 2000 wetlands delineation work.

He said some of the original wetland marking flags remain in place and ribbons marking the tree line for cutting also remain.

Russo said he verified that all the tree clearing work has been done outside the wetlands areas and also outside the 100-foot buffer zone surrounding wetlands.

He said the plans call for only limited work within the buffer zone area to create walking trails, and that work has not yet begun.

At the start of the hearing, Evans testified that he has lived at the Butternut Drive house that had been owned by his parents in the 1970s and ‘80s, and returned full time to the house about five or six years ago.

He said he did not attend May 2013 public hearings by the Commission on the City Plan when the garden plans were presented and approved by the city agency.

Chelsea Gardens officials claim that six acres of trees were cleared in April and May in the area delineated for the first phase of the project — including a welcome center, bathrooms, butterfly pavilion, classroom and parking areas — and the area for the main entrance road from Wilderness Road and a second access drive from Judd Road.

Danzer said he visited the site twice this year, on June 2 and last Friday, and observed erosion and sediment approaching the wetlands on the property and some sediment in the wetlands.

He said 9.1 acres of trees have been clear cut — exceeding the foundation’s claim that six acres of trees have been cut.

Several members of the Chelsea Gardens Foundation, including President Hugh Schnip, attended the afternoon hearing session but did not testify.

The hearing will continue Thursday at 10 a.m. in New London Superior Court.

c.bessette@theday.com

Twitter: @Bessettetheday