The 2021 mini-grant program is now closed. Winners will be announced at the end of April.
The NPS Wild & Scenic Rivers Program 2021 Annual Newsletter is out!
The next Management Council meeting is on Thursday, June 24th at 10:00 AM.
Winners will be announced at the end of April. Learn about the 2020 mini-grant funded projects here. These grantees shared $20,000 in funding. The Council commissioned a river use capacity study in 2020. Risa Shimoda, consultant, presented these slides at the March 2021 meeting of the Council. The final report is expected later this spring. Rockface To Radically Change, Plans Unveiled by NJDOT: Aesthetics are expected to change at Devil’s Tea Table in Hunterdon County, NJ as a result of NJDOT plans for rockfall mitigation to improve Rt. 29 roadway safety in Kingwood Twp. Editorial, “A geologic wonder is in danger,” Bucks County Herald, April 1, 2021 Rockfall Mitigation Comment Letter to Hunterdon County, NJ, March 2021 Kingwood Twp, NJ Rockfall Mitigation Resolution View PowerPoint slides provided by the Devil’s Tea Table Alliance. View Video Of Devil’s Tea Table Landscape, Courtesy Of Robert Smith Jr. Read several investigative stories about NJ rockfall projects: "More lawmakers push back on NJ spending millions to stop falling rocks on highways" "$28M rockfall mitigation project could improve traveler safety on Route 29, DOT says" "One NJ mayor had no clue a DOT rockfall project was coming to his township. He wasn't alone" "How one firm cashed in $7M in consulting fees for a DOT rockfall project still being planned" "NJ DOT spends millions to stop falling rocks on highways. But how often does that happen?" The Lower Delaware recently submitted these comment letters: The Annual NJ Clean Communities Delaware River Cleanup was selected as a 2021 National Scenic Byway Community Award Winner. Only 8 projects around the country received the honor! Join us in September to continue the event’s success. Thanks to 100 plus volunteers, and many nonprofit and governmental sponsors, the 2020 event resulted in 100 bags of garbage, 20 tires and larger pieces of debris collected. Care About PA's Tohickon Creek? We are tracking a potential Tohickon Creek water quality downgrade. Longtime Wild & Scenic Steering Committee Member Val Sigstedt writes, “It is wrong, arbitrary, sudden, and with no scientific reason, to lower the Tohickon’s purity designation.” The National Park Service/Wild & Scenic Rivers Newsletter featured the Wild & Scenic Lower Delaware in the November issue. Articles in the newsletter focused on: Seventy-five years ago, the Delaware River was choked with sewage and industrial pollution. Water levels on the Delaware are constantly changing. The USGS provides online tools to monitor the flow of the Delaware River and its tributaries, helping us to safely enjoy our river. Checkout water monitoring by the Lehigh River Stocking Association, dedicated to the continuous improvement of this waterway and its tributaries. Their objectives are to ensure clean water, public access, and an abundant trout fishery for everyone to enjoy. Wild & Scenic Partnership Video Workshop The Lower Delaware was designated in 2000 as a Wild and Scenic River Additionally some of the tributaries in the Lower Delaware were also designated including Tinicum Creek, (headwaters of two upper branches to the Delaware River confluence), Tohickon Creek, (downstream of Lake Nockamixon to the Delaware River confluence), and Paunacussing Creek, (portions passing through Solebury Township to the Delaware River). The Musconetcong River, (3.5 mile stretch from Saxton Falls to Route 46 and the 20.7 mile stretch from King’s Highway Bridget to railroad tunnels at Musconetcong Gorge), was designated in 2006. Read more about about the Lower Delaware's Wild and Scenic Designation.....
Thanks to a combination of federal and state safeguards and local innovation, the Delaware is a river reborn – and a model for other river restoration efforts across the country!
Learn more here...
Educate yourself on what the Wild & Scenic Designation means and hear from leading experts in the region including Lower Delaware’s NPS Liaison, Sarah Bursky. Video courtesy of the Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed. (Runs 1.5 hours.)
