POTSDAM — An Elm Street man who went to court to let his yard grow wild now wonders if he has to contend with state mowers.

Several feet of Jason C. Rohrer's 93 Elm St. yard adjacent to Route 11B was mowed Tuesday afternoon by the state Department of Transportation, destroying the edge of tall grasses and wildflowers he had certified by the National Wildlife Federation. Route 11B, which becomes Elm Street within the village, is a state road.

"My wife and child came in for lunch and didn't notice anything. I went out after lunch with my child to go to the neighbor's or something and wow!" Mr. Rohrer said Wednesday. "It was a pretty traumatic experience for all of us. We had a lot of wildflowers that were growing."

DOT defended the mowing, saying the mower operator going toward Route 11B saw the tall grass and cut it as a safety precaution.

"It wasn't with the forethought of malice," said Michael R. Flick, DOT spokesman. "They mow for sight disturbances and to make sure nothing jumps out of the ditch."

Mr. Rohrer won a June 2006 Village Court decision saying he did not have to comply with a 10-inch height maximum for his yard. The village appealed a month later, but Mr. Rohrer was again victorious.

The yard has been growing for years. Mr. Rohrer said he limits the edge to 3 feet for safety. It has never before been cut by DOT or village crews.

The yard includes milkweed, goldenrod and wildflowers that Mr. Rohrer and his family have cultivated it into a natural landscape. It's not a lazy ploy to avoid mowing, he said. He removes allergy-tingling ragweed and burrs.

"I just want DOT to acknowledge the mistake and send me a letter saying they won't do it again," he said.

He might be in for a disappointment.

"I don't think we can promise him anything locally," Mr. Flick said.

DOT representatives and Mr. Rohrer had not been in touch by Wednesday afternoon, but both sides want to talk.

"We have no intention of causing an accident or putting someone's life in jeopardy," Mr. Rohrer said. "We're actually doing things out there. If they're going to mow willy-nilly, that would keep us from doing that. It'd almost be better if they said, 'Keep it low.'"

Mr. Rohrer noticed after the mower passed that a metal sign along the road declaring the yard as certified wildlife habitat was missing, but he could not recall when he last saw it and thought it could have been missing before Tuesday. DOT did not remove nor does it have the sign, Mr. Flick said.