TRR photo by David Hulse Sandra Schultz

Mongaup still a burr under the river council’s saddle

By DAVID HULSE

NARROWSBURG — A perennial opponent to new development in the Mongaup area joined forces with a defender of the river management plan’s integrity last week in a new broadside against the state and federal governments and the Upper Delaware Council (UDC).

Phil Chase, who represents Deerpark on the UDC, charged that the council had been “riding the fence” on what Chase calls a dangerous boating access planned by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for just upstream of the confluence of the Delaware and Mongaup rivers.

He also used the opportunity to take a new shot at the National Park Service (NPS) for failing to intervene against an unsafe action. “They don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them,” Chase said claiming that NPS plans to inherit the property, along with the nearby acreage DEC is ceding to the feds for construction of an Upper Delaware visitors center.

But Chase, who has complained for years about the visitor center plan, appeared to gain new ground in recalling that the 1988 river management plan, the scenic river’s operations gospel, did not envision a boating access at the site, only a river rest stop accessible solely from the water.

	TRR photo by David Hulse George Frosch, left, and Phil Chase

An earlier challenge of the access produced a language change, referring to the access as “interim” rather than permanent, when the project was first challenged as a violation of the river plan. In that vein, Water Use Committee chair Charles Weiland said Chase was rehashing old issues, and that it had been agreed that Lumberland’s approval would “be the barometer” for the acceptability of the project.

“What was the vote on that?” Chase asked.

“That’s me,” Weiland replied.

“You’re running the council?” Chase retorted.

The exchange prompted George Frosch, the UDC’s senior river activist, to issue a warning. “Be very careful when you open that can of worms… If you can dump this, you can dump anything else,” Frosch said.

NPS Upper DelawareActing Superintendent Sandra Schultz denied that NPS had any designs on the access property, and initially was drawn into the area to deal with a chronic trash complaint stemming from informal use of the area.

The discussion highlighted a problem UDC plans to deal with this fall, said executive director Bill Douglass. With an eye toward beginning an updating process, the council plans a series of history discussions about the river plan’s controversial beginnings, mainly for the benefit of newer UDC members. That completed, members will be asked to suggest areas for change in the document as a first step in a formal revision, which would involve public hearings and approvals by all the participating governments and agencies.