TUSTEN, NY — The Upper Delaware Council (UDC) marked a passing of the torch at its February 3 meeting, acknowledging the pending retirement of William “Bill” Rudge.

Rudge has served with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in various positions for 35 years. He was appointed natural resources supervisor for the DEC’s Region 3 in 2001 and became New York State’s representative to the UDC at the same time. He has served in both positions ever since, and plans to retire on February 28.

The UDC passed a resolution commending Rudge on an outstanding career with the DEC and expressing its appreciation for his work. “Bill’s UDC-liaison tenure was characterized by professional and consistent sharing of information, quick responsiveness to questions and concerns, active participation in UDC strategic planning, well-traveled familiarity with the Upper Delaware River Valley, a friendly demeanor and good-natured temperment and genuine support of the organization’s goals.”

As Rudge is retiring, Michael DiSarno represented the DEC at the UDC’s February 3 meeting; DiSarno currently serves as a fisheries biologist for Region 3.

DiSarno informed the council of an upcoming update to the DEC’s strategic plan for the management of state forests. The plan ensures the protection of sensitive wildlife habitats while providing for recreational opportunities and economic benefits for local communities. A draft updated plan was recently released, and is available at https://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/64567.html. Public comments on the plan are accepted through Friday, March 4, and can be submitted by email to 2021SPSFM@dec.ny.gov, or by mail to the Bureau of Forest Management, DEC Central Office, 625 Broadway, Albany NY 12233.

“The reason I’m bringing this up is that its currently up for public comment,” said DiSarno. “And currently the DEC is in talks to hopefully acquire a large portion of the Ten Mile River Boy Scout camp… and this plan would actually be the basis for coming up with a management plan for that property.”

Those talks were discussed in further detail later in the meeting.

An application was before the Town of Tusten planning board to subdivide portions of the Ten Mile River (TMR) property, said Kerry Engelhardt, the UDC’s resources and land use specialist. There are about 7,000 acres under consideration in Tusten, she said, and more potentially in other towns.

“What’s going to happen is that the Boy Scouts are going to subdivide that property in Tusten into, I believe, it’s eight different parcels,” said Engelhardt. Following that subdivision, the scouts were planning to sell off a few small parcels, but the bulk of the 7,000 acres was going to go to a conservation fund; while the fund was unnamed, it was described as a nationwide nonprofit that works often with such purchases.

“I believe the plan is that [the fund] will, in a few years, sell that land to New York, [which] will then manage it as a state forest,” said Engelhardt.

But those plans were all in the future. The project at hand was just a subdivision project, she said, and so did not require review from the UDC or from the NPS. (A public hearing for that subdivision is scheduled to occur before the Tusten planning board on February 22 at 7:15 p.m.)

Speaking for the NPS, superintendent Joe Salvatore said that he’d had discussions with the Boy Scouts and with the DEC, and he forsaw that the NPS would continue to have a presence on the TMR site, particularly on the portion that provides an access point to the Delaware River. “I don’t see a lot of change in the utilization of the area as we move forward. I think we’re lucky that we’re getting a preservation owner.”

Members of the council concurred, saying they were glad to see there would still be public usage of the property.