Common Waters cultivates cross-border collaboration

Three states, multiple agencies, organizations and interests

By SANDY LONG

MATAMORAS, PA — The first community forum organized by Common Waters, a regional partnership of public and non-profit organizations and agencies focused on supporting the development of sustainable communities and working landscapes in the Delaware River watershed upstream of the Water Gap, conducted its first community forum on October 29 in Matamoras.

The “Community Land Use and Conservation Forum” focused on developing relationships and strategies for cross-border collaboration between participants while articulating regional values inspired by the Delaware River.

“The Delaware River may be the most important fresh water resource east of the Mississippi, and some would argue, the most valuable drinking water source in our nation,” said Ed Brannon, senior fellow of the Pinchot Institute for Conservation (PIC) during his opening remarks.

Brannon described the Common Waters Partnership as an outgrowth of a request by the National Park Service’s Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area to PIC for assistance in facilitating a meeting between parties adjacent to the park. Meetings continued voluntarily to foster improved cooperation across political and social boundaries.

During the forum, a morning panel discussion of the Upper Delaware as a regional and national resource of value looked at current and anticipated threats to water quality issues. It featured Richard Albert, formerly of Delaware Riverkeeper and the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), Jay Laubengeyer of the New Jersey Nature Conservancy, Kenneth Najjar of DRBC and Carl Wilgus of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau.

The afternoon panel addressed lessons learned from regional collaboration efforts in Chicago, the Chesapeake Bay and the Northeast. Panelists were commissioner Suzanne Malec McKenna, Department of Environment, Chicago, IL; Amanda DeSantis of Dupont; and Sally Claggett of the U.S. Forest Service, Chesapeake Bay Program.

Two separate breakout sessions involved participants brainstorming in six facilitated sub-groups. The first session worked to identify threats and opportunities while the second focused on generating ideas for collaboration across state lines and among agencies and organizations.

Representatives from the Natural Lands Trust demonstrated their new Smart Conservation and Source Water Protection Models, and informational booths from regional organizations and agencies were available throughout the day.

Brannon closed the session by encouraging participants to remain involved in the ongoing collaborative process. “We realize the health of our regional economy is very much tied to the quality of the living environment,” he said.

The Common Waters Leadership Committee met the following morning to determine the initiative’s next steps based on the outcomes of the forum. Visit www.commonwaters@pinchot.org for more information.