BARRYVILLE, NY — Seeing an infrastructure project through isn’t easy. It requires collaboration between the many agencies involved, as well as a great deal of patience. 

The Highland river access is just such a project, one that took over a decade to complete. 

The project, a set of upgrades to an existing river access in the Town of Highland, still needs a few finishing touches, including the installation of signage. But the bulk of the work is done, and representatives of the governments and the nonprofits behind projects similar to the access gathered there on August 2. 

They celebrated the work that had gone into the project, as well as the funding and the collaboration that supports construction and preservation projects throughout the Upper Delaware. 

“I’m here representing the hundreds of people who actually put in their work, their time and their effort into this project,” said Sullivan County chief planner Heather Jacksy. “This site is owned by DOT [NYS Department of Transportation], it’s leased by DEC [NYS Department of Environmental Conservation], it’s co-managed by NPS [National Park Service], DOT, DEC [and] the towns, and we have federal, state and local money—so we leaped every hurdle out there to get this done.”

Money for the river

Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-19) spoke at the occasion about a federal source of money for projects like the Highland river access. 

The Delaware River Basin Restoration Program, first funded in 2018, covers the entire Delaware River. It supports restoration and recreation projects all throughout the river basin. 

The amount allocated to the program has increased year over year. Advocates for the river are pushing for $15 million in this year’s allocation for the program. Of that, $13.5 million is already confirmed through the House appropriation process, said Molinaro. 

“It has always been an uphill climb and a battle to get the state and federal government to focus effectively on supporting the natural resources like the Delaware, like the Hudson—I’ve got a handful [of resources] in the 19th Congressional District,” said Molinaro. “But I can tell you without question, rivers and waterways like this—they define not only our natural but our social and our cultural environment. 

“We often refer to waterways like these as the thing that divides us, but in so many ways, they bring us together,” he added. 

Closer to home, Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther talked about the money New York State has directed toward the Upper Delaware River. 

New York put a line item in the state’s Environmental Protection Fund in 2022, specifying money to be used for the Upper Delaware River. In 2022, that line item amounted to $300,000; this year, it amounted to $350,000. 

“I’m proud to stand with so many advocates who dedicate themselves to protecting and preserving the Delaware River,” said Gunther. “It is a vital resource that we must all collectively take stock in to ensure that it lasts for future generations.”

Jeff Skelding, executive director of the Friends of the Upper Delaware River, praised both representatives for their leadership. 

“Advocacy for this river has been tough over the decades, [but] it’s getting better and this turnout today demonstrates that,” said Skelding. 

The Highland access

The upgrades to the Highland river access have themselves been a long time coming. 

“I remember talking about this project in 2011, or 2012,” said Nadia Rajsz, currently District 2 Sullivan County legislator, then supervisor in the Town of Lumberland. “One of the things I’ve always asked was, ‘Why don’t we have access sites for our residents?’ [When the project began,] I said, ‘Great, we’re finally going to expand our access site.’”

The project reshaped the terrain of the site, putting in a gentler slope from the road down to the river, and paving the path and the parking lot. The scenery around the site changed as well with the installation of native plants and the clearing of the area around a canal wall discovered as part of the construction. 

“The idea was really to make an access that was nice and beautiful,” said Jacksy. “Before it looked like a road pull-off with a dirt path down to the river… The idea is that really our residents need beautiful accesses and that how our area looks from the perspective of the infrastructure that supports the beauty of nature really makes a difference.”