NARROWSBURG, NY — When planning for the future, it helps to know what that future might look like.

A new tool developed by the Center for Land Use and Sustainability (CLUS) at Shippensburg University could help communities along the Upper Delaware do just that.

Dr. Claire Jantz and Alfonso Yanez Morillo from CLUS demonstrated a land-use visualization tool at the December 1 meeting of the Upper Delaware Council (UDC).

The tool attempts to be helpful for officials and residents in the Upper Delaware, said Morillo. It uses LIDAR (a laser-based mapping technique) data to create three-dimensional maps, starting with the topography of the ground and adding trees and individual buildings.

The map details the current state of development throughout its area of coverage—the CLUS project used Lackawaxen Township, PA and Town of Tusten, NY as its study areas. The CLUS team went beyond the present day to predict how land use could develop in the future.

The CLUS team took information from the zoning regulations of Lackawaxen and Tusten and compiled it into a spreadsheet, said Jantz. It used that information plus the LIDAR data and created another set of maps, this time showing the maximum level of development that could occur under current regulations.

Lackawaxen saw approximately 1,500 new buildings created in a full build out, with 853 of them in the river corridor; the numbers for Tusten were 617 and 308 respectively.

Virtue, liberty and the great outdoors

Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) representative Tim Dugan briefed the council on the growth of the commonwealth’s outdoors economy.

Outdoor recreation added almost $14 billion to Pennsylvania’s economy in 2021, 22 percent up from 2020. RV camping was the leading financial driver of that growth, exceeding $700 million in value.

2020 and 2021 were both big-growth years, said Dugan. 2020 saw a big push on state and public lands, and in his view, people may have learned and realized the possibilities of the outdoors from that experience, leading to more equipment purchases in 2021.

Commonwealth offices are adapting to meet this increased demand.

Pennsylvania established the office of outdoor recreation in 2022, and Nathan Reinger is the director. The new office will pull in all information about the commonwealth’s outdoors and advocate on its behalf as a destination for outdoors recreation, according to Dugan.

This year also saw a shift in the registration method for permits for camping in state parks.

Historically, the DCNR office handled camping permits at a large administrative cost, said Dugan. The past five years saw the demand for permits more than double, increasing that administrative burden.

DCNR has since integrated its campsite permitting process with reserveamerica.com, a platform developed by Aspira; it is widely used for parks and campsites. It now charges a fee for vehicle campers—$10 per night for residents, $15 per night for nonresidents, as well as an administrative fee—though not for tent campers, said Dugan.

The byproducts of fracking

The UDC also held discussion on whether to send a letter weighing in on fracking regulations.

Damascus Citizens for Sustainability chair Barbara Arrindell came to the UDC in November and asked the council to weigh in with a letter to the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC); while the DRBC agreed to ban fracking in the Delaware River Basin in February of 2021, its rules on importing water into and exporting water out of the basin and its rules on wastewater discharge remain a work in progress.

The UDC discussed on December 1 whether to send a drafted letter reiterating the council’s position; the council had sent the DRBC a letter earlier in the public comment period. The draft letter under consideration supported DRBC efforts “to discourage, limit, or place conditions on water exportations,” agreed that basin waters could handle the potential pollutants in fracking wastewater to a limited extent without risk, and urged “serious deliberation and consideration of all input.”

Members of the council expressed qualms about the DRBC’s actions. Town of Hancock representative Fred Peckham said the DRBC was overstepping its boundaries and that the issue of fracking was best left up to the states.

DRBC representative Kristen Bowman Kavanaugh informed the council that on-the-record submissions had closed, and that the DRBC planned to vote on its regulations on Wednesday, December 7.

The UDC decided ultimately not to send its draft letter.

Visit riverreporter.com/news for updates following the December 7 meeting of the DRBC.