New Park Planned on the West Branch of the Delaware

By Dan Plummer

 

One good turn leads to another. That’s the nice life lesson I’ve learned from a recent incident involving our rivers. Please allow me to tell you the story.

 

I serve as board chairman of Friends of the Upper Delaware River (FUDR), a non-profit organization that looks after the welfare of the river system. A little more than a year ago, I got a call from John O’Connor, mayor of Deposit, N.Y. He was looking for a little help.

 

The Oquaga Creek needed some bank stabilization work just upstream of where it dumps into the West Branch of the Delaware River. He knew that our organization has donated money and workers to various efforts to preserve and protect local streams and rivers. Mayor O’Connor asked whether FUDR was able to do anything to help with the Oquaga issue. He told me that the problem spot was often used by fishermen to launch boats.

 

I met there with O’Connor and Jim Serio, another local conservationist and river guide who had helped connect me to the Mayor. Standing at the West Branch-Oquaga junction, we immediately saw that there was a larger problem. The bank was indeed in need of repair, but the boat launch issue quickly became a secondary concern.

 

The section of Oquaga Creek that was eroding was only yards away from the Deposit sewage treatment plant, which seemed imperiled by potentially devastating flooding if the bank erosion were allowed to worsen. I laughingly told the mayor that maybe we should worry about the boat launch after we were certain that the plant was not going to fill the West Branch with sewage, or words to that effect.

 

With the help of Serio and the Al Hazzard Chapter of Trout Unlimited, FUDR stepped in and followed the Department of Environmental Conservation’s recommendations to restore the flood-ravaged stream bank. Local contractor Donny Wheeler came to the rescue and did the work at a deeply discounted rate to help the non-profit groups get the job done. (Wheeler explained that he loves to fish, too.) Mayor O’Connor was gracious in thanking the groups for helping out since the town was short on funds to make the repairs.

 

A few weeks after the work was complete, O’Connor called me to say that a Deposit native named Kent Joscelyn owned a small piece of property on the West Branch that he might want to donate to FUDR. I checked with my board members, who asked me to pursue the lead.

 

The parcel, just downstream from the West Branch Bridge in Deposit, includes about 300 feet of river frontage. Kent Joscelyn’s father, Ray M. Joscelyn, and brother, John D. Joscelyn, who were Deposit fishermen, had also owned the property. He told me that he wanted to donate the land to a group that would use it to benefit the local community and visitors to the area. It seemed like a perfect fit since his goal mirrors nearly verbatim the FUDR mission statement.

 

He had a couple of reasonable requests for the property, such as the creation of a good view of the river as the property was developed. The transaction is now complete, and FUDR is the new owner of this very special piece of land.

 

This was a great gesture of appreciation from the donor. We are following through on his idea that the property should be shared by all of us—locals and visitors, fishermen and –women and sightseers. We’re planning a small park there, giving Joscelyn the “view for all” that he hoped for.

 

We live here amid the natural beauty of rivers and mountains. Kent Joscelyn has provided all of us with a lovely vantage point from which to view this majesty.

 

As I said, one good turn leads to another.

 

Dan Plummer, FUDR chairman

catskilldan@mac.com
1-607-363-7848

The Upper Delaware Council Leadership Changes

The Upper Delaware Council, Inc. (UDC) has promoted Laurie Ramie as Acting Executive Director to succeed William E. Douglass in the position that he held for 22 years before retiring on Jan. 1, 2012.

Ramie began employment with the UDC on April 21, 1997 as the Public Relations/Fundraising Specialist. She will continue to fulfill those responsibilities while taking over the staff leadership role.

During her nearly 15-year tenure with the Council, Ramie has also served as editor of “The Upper Delaware” newsletter, grants coordinator for the UDC and the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway, Inc., special events planner, and a member of numerous steering committees for partner organizations and projects relevant to the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River Valley.

“Laurie Ramie has demonstrated an ability to interact positively with fellow staff members and the public, and to accept and complete work assignments in a timely and professional manner,” said 2011 UDC Chairperson Representative Larry H. Richardson, Town of Cochecton, NY, in announcing the unanimous appointment that was effective on Dec. 5, 2011.

A native of Ogdensburg located on the New York State-Canada border, Ramie earned a 1988 Cum Laude Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a Minor in English (Writing Concentration) from SUNY Plattsburgh.

She worked in community journalism for almost 10 years as a reporter, photographer, editorial assistant, and supervising editor for newspapers in St. Lawrence County and Sullivan County, NY. Prior to joining the UDC, Ramie was the editor of the Sullivan County Democrat as published by Catskill-Delaware Publications.

The Upper Delaware Council, Inc. was established in 1988 to oversee the coordination and implementation of the River Management Plan for the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, which the U.S. Congress designated as a unit of the National Park System in 1978.

The non-profit organization’s voting members are the two states (New York and Pennsylvania) and 13 local towns and townships that border on the Upper Delaware River. The Delaware River Basin Commission is a non-voting member. The UDC operates under a Cooperative Agreement with the National Park Service.

Each member appoints a representative to the UDC’s board to set policy and guide the direction of this conservation-oriented partnership of land, water, and people. In addition to Ramie as Acting Executive Director, current full-time staff members are Senior Resource Specialist David B. Soete and Secretary Cindy Odell.

For more information on the UDC and its activities, please visit www.upperdelawarecouncil.org

An Entirely Synthetic Fish

Anders Halverson is the author of a very informative and entertaining book about the rainbow trout that any trout fisherman is surely to find interesting.

An Entirely Synthetic Fish: How Rainbow Trout Beguiled America and Overran the World is the title of the book that is an excellent study on this North American Pacific slope native. The author in a relaxed, storytelling fashion chronicles the rainbow trout from it's discovery through its introduction into all but one continent. 

The books reads at a pace that once picked up becomes hard to put down and after finishing it beckons to be read again.  

Anders Halverston received his PhD in ecology from Yale University and wrote the book as a research associate at the University of Colorado's Center of the American West.

This book is now a permanent addition to my library.