NARROWSBURG, NY — The Upper Delaware Council (UDC) will host a public presentation titled “The National Park Service Submerged Resources Center and its Recent Survey along the Upper Delaware River” on Thursday, December 5 at 7 p.m. at the UDC office and online on Zoom.

Archeologists David Morgan and Matt Hanks will discuss findings from an underwater survey of 5.7 miles of the Delaware River in the vicinity of Lackawaxen, PA; Ten Mile; Narrowsburg; Damascus, PA; and Callicoon. The survey was completed in September.

The archaeologists used a pair of remote sensing technologies—sidescan sonar and magnetometry—to help document two features linked with the area’s transportation history in the 1800s: remnants of a dam and a bridge pier foundation.

Morgan and Hanks found another 19 sonar contacts of interest and 129 magnetic anomalies that will require further investigation.

The National Park Service (NPS) owns or manages more than 3.5 million acres of underwater lands and the agency maintains the Submerged Resources Center (SRC), which is designed to help parks of all types manage their submerged resources and assets.

The SRC consists of a seven-member team. Members’ backgrounds and areas of expertise encompass archeology, photography, biology, maintenance and dive operations. They conduct projects year-round and around the country. Examples include infrastructure, such as dock maintenance; natural resource management, such as documenting the impacts of disease on coral reefs; public safety issues, such as search and recovery; and historic preservation, such as locating, documenting and preserving archeological sites like shipwrecks.

The National Historic Preservation Act requires that national parks inventory historic properties within lands they own or manage so that these places can be taken into consideration during routine operations such as construction. 

For the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River survey, Morgan and Hanks were looking to create a Phase I baseline inventory and evaluation of potential archeological sites.

The UDC office is located at 211 Bridge St.

All UDC meetings are open to the public. To request the Zoom link to participate remotely, call UDC administrative support staff person Stephanie Driscoll at 845/252-3022 or email stephanie@upperdelawarecouncil.org. Check www.upperdelawarecouncil.org or UDC social media pages for any meeting updates.