UPPER DELAWARE RIVER VALLEY, NY and PA — The Upper Delaware Council (UDC) received $27,706.45 in donations during 2025 to support its mission to conserve, enhance and promote the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River corridor’s natural and cultural resources while fostering its social and economic vitality.

Additional contributions were collected for two dedicated purposes, the 5th Annual Upper Delaware Litter Sweep held in April 2025 ($3,275) and the Congressman Matt McHugh Honorary Plaque Project installed in September 2025 ($4,000), which were previously acknowledged.

Sixteen individuals and entities provided monetary contributions to the UDC between January 1 and December 31 of 2025. The $27,706.45 tally builds upon total donations of $22,099.94 in 2024 and $17,303.03 in 2023.

The amount was significantly bolstered by the largest ever single donation in the UDC’s 38-year history: $25,000 from a charitable trust of a family with personal connections to the Upper Delaware River Valley, who wish to remain anonymous.

The Upper Delaware Scenic Byway, Inc., a fellow nonprofit organization dedicated to the enhancement of New York State-designated Route 97 corridor paralleling the river which holds its committee meetings and stores records at the UDC office, donated $1,500.

Individual contributions were offered in 2025 by Sarah van Ouwerkerk of New York City; Rosie and Norman Starr of Beach Lake, PA (twice); Ginny and Bill Dudko of Sparrowbush, NY (twice, in memory of former UDC Town of Deerpark Representative David Dean and Ginny’s father and former Town of Highland UDC Representative Lew Schmalzle); Ryan Ward, owner of The Ruffed Grouse Gallery in Narrowsburg, NY; John and Sarah Marconi of Dingmans Ferry, PA; MathMinded.com of Bellerose Village, NY; Barbara Robisch-Cole of Equinunk, PA; Al Henry and Karen Carlson of Beach Lake (to cover the cost of two staff registrations for the Upper Delaware River Rendezvous conference); Meg McGuire, publisher of the former Delaware Currents online news source; Erin Fairbanks of BKBF Foundation in Narrowsburg (in honor of Star Hesse); Edward C. Winters of Bangor, PA and formerly of Matamoras, PA; and Jean and Seth Koven of Equinunk, PA, representing Academic Access in Havertown, PA.

UDC funding

These gifts are particularly meaningful in light of budget deficits that have begun as the UDC’s operational expenses inevitably exceed its federal allocation which has remained flat since 1988, with neither New York State nor the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania providing their anticipated 20 percent cost shares despite their approval of supportive executive orders, stated the UDC.

The two states, along with 13 towns and townships that border along the river, comprise the voting membership of the UDC, with each appointing delegates to represent their interests.

Over 99 percent of the council’s funding comes through the budget of its River Management Plan (RMP) Cooperative Agreement partner, the National Park Service Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River. That plan called for a preliminary budget of $500,000 in 1988 and a full-time staff of five.

Thirty-eight years later, the UDC’s federal allocation has never adjusted for inflation as the cost of doing business increases. The council has been forced to curtail programs and to cut back staffing to three as of 2012, without any decrease in the 80-plus tasks the RMP assigns to it.