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HANCOCK, NY--It sounds like the start of a joke: Guy walks into a bar. But the punch line didn’t seem so funny.
The
story began when I got a call on the morning of April 26 from Jim "Coz"
Costolnic, a board member of Friends of the Upper Delaware River and
the owner of Border Water Outfitters, a fly shop and guide service in
Hancock.
Coz was a little perturbed.
He said, “Hey, Dan, I hear they’re shutting down the Cannonsville flow to zero today. What’s up with that?”
Costolnic
is among hundreds of people—guides, shopkeepers, motel and resort
owners, restaurateurs, waitresses, etc.--who make a living from the
Upper Delaware River fishery. Fish and fishermen/women had been abundant
in April.
And
now Coz was hearing that water releases from the Cannonsville Reservoir
on the West Branch of the Delaware, were going to be completely
stanched for some sort of dam repair.
Oh,
great. To boot, this was happening on the weekend of FUDR's 5th Annual
One Bug fishing fundraiser, which raises much-needed funds to protect
the local rivers, streams and communities.
I asked Coz about the source of his information.
He
said, “A guy in a bar was talking to a river guide, over wings and a
beer. A very reliable source. The guy works up at the Cannonsville dam.”
FUDR seems to get a lot of tips about things like this from guys in bars.
I
told Coz I would make some calls, and I started with Tom Murphy, a
division chief with New York City’s Bureau of Water Supply. I consider
Tom an ally, after years of working together to get a better
water-release plan in place from Cannonsville and the other New York
City-owned reservoirs that feed the Delaware River system.
Murphy confirmed that there would be a shutdown.
He
explained that an 18-inch pipe in the dam release chamber had developed
a crack and needed repair. This required the line to be drained and
dried so it could be welded. Releases were being suspended so the
stilling pool, to which the line discharges, could be emptied to below
the pipe’s elevation. This exposed the pipe so the welding could be
done.
Murphy
said the work was scheduled to be done that day to take advantage of
favorable natural stream flows as a result of recent heavy rains.
I
told Murphy that a complete and sudden shutdown of Cannonsville
releases didn’t make any sense because it could strand fish in the
shallows. Nobody wants to see that.
He
and I discussed the need for water releases be ramped down gradually to
give fish a chance to find refuge in deeper pools. I didn't expect
Murphy completely understand all this, but I wondered who from the state
Department of Environmental Conservation would have authorized this
work, knowing that fish and the ecosystem that depends on these
cold-water releases could be left high and dry.
Murphy
said he had been speaking with Brenan Tarrier of the DEC. I got him on
the phone and repeated the concerns of the conservation groups I was
speaking for. I asked him who authorized the water shutdown. You won’t
be surprised to know that no one wanted to take credit. I wouldn’t want
to own up to it, either.
Norm
McBride, a DEC Region 4 biologist, normally would have been our man,
but he was unavailable, using up vacation time before retirement. Due to
DEC cutbacks, Norm's position has yet to be filled.
I
asked the DEP and DEC to give me a couple of hours before beginning the
shutdown so we could find an expert for advice. Pete Bousum, another
FUDR board member, jumped in his truck and intercepted Mark Hartle from
the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, who was floating the main
stem of the Delaware River with Lee Hartman, Delaware River committee
chairman for Pennsylvania Trout Unlimited. We also contacted Dr. Robert
Bachman, a Pennsylvania Fish and Boat commissioner.
These
conservationists all agreed that the following day, April 27, would be a
better time to repair the pipe. The weather forecast called for
overcast skies, light precipitation and a high temperature in the 40s.
After
more conversations with Murphy and others, the DEC agreed the work
would begin with a gradual ramping down of releases starting at 4 a.m.
April 27.
As
a consolation, I asked that the amount of water that could not be
released from the Cannonsville Reservoir during the shutdown be released
from the Pepacton Reservoir into the East Branch of the Delaware River,
which helped the main stem downstream of Hancock. Murphy agreed to do
this for us and assured me that the repair crew would work as quickly as
possible. Responding to our concerns, the DEC also had a crew and
tanker truck on hand to rescue any fish that got stuck in the shallows.
In the end, the modified repair plan went off without a hitch—and without any fish drama.
Peter Innes, a DEC supervisor, told me, “By all accounts, it was a successful operation.”
A few people deserve credit, including Murphy and state DEC staffers Tarrier, Dave Cornwell and Dan Zielinski.
So why should we care?
I
care because I am deeply committed to protecting our precious rivers,
as board chairman of FUDR and spokesman for the Delaware Watershed
Conservation Coalition.
Putting
off this necessary repair could have created a more serious problem—and
a longer shutdown—somewhere in the future, perhaps at a time with less
favorable weather conditions. The city and DEC did the right thing.
I
am grateful that the government agencies involved responded to our
concerns, and we are pleased at the growing sense of cooperation between
these agencies and the private-sector conservationists who dedicate our
time and money to protect this resource.
So
the story has a satisfying ending. I just hope that next time we don't
have to find out about consequential water-flow plans when a guy walks
into a bar.
Dan Plummer
Chairman of the Board
Friends of the Upper Delaware River
607-363-7848 office
607-363-7975 fax
