A Victory for Truth...

Looking upstream toward Devil's Tea Table on a perfect Monday trip with Riverkeeper friends including Katy (pictured), Shannon, Chari (Schuylkill Riverkeeper) and husband Jay, and Fred Stine. Felt great to be back on the water and paddling with such learned company.

Finally, after two years of the local print media regurgitating "the reservoirs did it" myth promoted by the self-proclaimed (and self-serving) "river rats" -- one newspaper -- The Hunterdon Democrat-- gets it right.

Well, they didn't get it completely right, but they have come closest to the truth. The NYC reservoirs did not cause any of the last three Delaware River floods. Permanent voids of 20% in the big reservoirs will NOT PREVENT flooding along the lower Delaware River floodplain.

Will leaving voids in the reservoirs reduce flooding? Maybe yes, maybe no. NOT if the preciptation during a particular storm event falls mostly within the Pennsylvania tributary watersheds and/or downstream from the reservoir drainage areas. The floodplain will flood again. Nothing will change that basic fact. Keeping the reservoirs at 50% won't stop flooding below Easton if the Pocono and Lehigh watersheds are pounded by rain on top of snow melt! The people who live along the river are there at the mercy of the river. Those who take positive action such as raising buildings or seeking a property buy-out are to be commended for accomodating reality.

This topic of Delaware River flooding is complex and involves many variables. The so-called "river rats" present a simplistic, fear based narrative that distorts both the historical flood record and watershed science. Unfortunately these distortions have become popular myth. They just keep repeating the lies over and over again to kind of catapult the propaganda. Reminds me of....oh never mind.

-- "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."
George W. Bush May 25, 2005

CLEAN WATER ACTION - ACHTUNG!

Here are a few important issues that require your immediate attention.

Clean Water Action is requesting that each of us contact our congressional representatives to express support for the Clean Water Act, which has been seriously undermined by the Smirking Chimp Administration. Click here to find out more.

SUPPORT SPECIAL PROTECTION WATERS for the Lower Delaware

PLEASE consider attending one of the informational meetings sponsored by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) on the proposed Special Protection Waters designation for the Wild and Scenic Lower Delaware River. The non-tidal Lower Delaware River extends from the Delaware Water Gap to Trenton/Morrisville. The upper reaches from the Water Gap to Hancock, NY already have these regs in place, which is one of the reasons we have such clean water flowing down to the Lower Delaware.

The New Jersey meeting will be held Thursday October 25, 7:00-9:00pm at the Prallsville Mill, Rt. 29, Stockton. The Pennsylvania meeting will be held Thursday November 1, 7:00-9:00 pm, in Room 315, Acopian Engineering Building at Lafayette College, Easton. Go to the DRBC website for more information.

The FINAL PUBLIC HEARING on DRBC’s proposed SPW designation will be held on Tuesday, December 4, 2:30pm at the DRBC, 25 State Police Drive , West Trenton, NJ. We need to you to attend and speak up for the river and this crucial designation in order to make sure that the high quality waters of the Lower Delaware River are kept clean and waters that need improvement are restored.

Letters in support of Special Protection Waters designation are urgently needed. Please send your letter for the record to DRBC today –deadline for all letters is December 6, 2007. Let the DRBC know you care about the Delaware River!

For a sample letter go to www.delawareriverkeeper.org (see my links list) and look for action alerts.

BACKGROUND
In 2000, the U.S. Congress enacted the “Lower Delaware River Wild and Scenic Rivers Act,” which included most of the Lower Delaware River into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The Delaware Riverkeeper Network then petitioned the DRBC to designate the Lower Delaware River as Special Protection Waters (SPW), a classification system that is similar to New Jersey’s Category 1 water quality classification and Pennsylvania’s Exceptional and High Quality classification program..

The DRBC collected water quality data showing that that the Lower Delaware has higher water quality than the existing minimum standards. Based on that, the DRBC has decided to move towards permanent SPW for this section to protect that high quality and the exceptional resources that merited it Wild and Scenic status. The goal of SPW is to maintain exceptionally high scenic, recreational, and ecological values or water supply uses.

The SPW regulations address point sources of pollution by requiring higher levels of treatment (Best Demonstrable Technology) for new large discharges that are reviewed by the DRBC. This applies to new and/or expanded discharges to tributaries and the main stem. DRBC will set water quality targets at set points in the river and at the mouth of major tributaries based on the water quality data they collected and analyzed. These targets will establish existing water quality parameters for discharge permits. Once water quality standards are established, it is also required that there will be no measurable change in existing water quality from new discharges for these higher-than-standard quality waters. An alternatives analysis that first considers no-discharge technologies is also required.

The Special Protection Waters program also requires that nonpoint source pollution control plans to be prepared by applicants proposing new discharges and/or new large water withdrawals. Best management practices and infiltration strategies for new development will be required to prevent, manage, and recycle stormwater runoff.

In short -- Please take the time to write a letter to the DRBC supporting Special Protection Waters.

Need more information or inspiration? Email me at rivergeek@verizon.net.

Fall Paddling...

Pony Truss Bridge over the Musconetcong River, one of only two in New Jersey and listed as a National Historic structure.

Today is American Rivers Blog Action Day, which they say is "uniting bloggers from around the world to put one important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment."

Nearly 9,000 bloggers - with an audience reach of 6.5 million subscribers - are blogging about rivers today, so they say.

October through March is when we like to paddle the smaller creeks and rivers. Right now most are still too low but November usually brings a fair amount of rain to bring the flows back up.

In an earlier post I erroneously stated that this year is the Five-year/five-foot drawdown of Lake Hopatcong, which brings steady flows to the Musconetcong River. However, upon checking with Cliff Lundin (former Mayor of Hopatcong and Musconecong Watershed Assoc. Trustee) the five-year drawdown won't happen until 2008. He said "Regular 26 inch drawdown starts Nov 1. It goes at the higher outflow rate until its down 26. Next year is the big one. 60 inch drawdown starts after Labor Day."

OK paddling buds, help me remember that. LABOR DAY '08. This year is only 26" and Cliff tells me that with the drought the lake is already down 7 inches. It won't take long to go down the remaining 19 inches unless we get a big storm. Still, let's remain optimistic that November will be an average precipitation month and if that is the case we'll have many happy, albeit chilly days of creek and small river paddling in store.

Rock Snot On the Move...

Unfortunately, a new and significant invasive alien species has invaded the Delaware River Basin in NY. Click on the hypertext below for a pic. Mind you, this will in no way be as insidious as the prime invasive alien species threat. That would be Bush. Nasty shrub.

Didymo found in trout streams
Saturday, September 29, 2007
By David Figura, Outdoors editor
Syracuse Post-Standard

The presence of didymo, an invasive plant species commonly called "rock snot" by anglers, has been confirmed this week in two well-known trout streams in the Catskills.

Steve Lorence, fisheries manager of the DEC office in Delaware County, said sampling by aquatic biologists has confirmed the presence of the slimy brown-colored plant on at least five sections of the West Branch of the Delaware River, including the confluence with the Beaverkill. In addition, it's been found near the Route 191 bridge in Deposit on the West Branch of the Delaware River.

Unlike many aquatic nuisance plants, didymo or Didymosphenia geminata, grows on the bottom of flowing and still waters. It can develop thick mats even in fast-flowing trout streams. In its presence, fishing becomes difficult, the abundance of bottom-dwelling organisms declines, and trout and other fish that feed on those organisms also decline. It resembles rotting cardboard when it dries and rots.

Its presence in the Catskills, often touted as one of the premier trout-fishing areas of the state, could mean trouble for an area where millions of dollars in tourism related to fishing is spent each year. The microscopic algae cling unseen to waders, boots, boats, lures, hooks, sinkers, fishing line and other fishing gear, and remain viable for several weeks under even slightly moist conditions, according to the DEC.

Absorbent items - for example, the felt-soled waders and wading boots commonly used by stream anglers - can easily spread it. Canoeists and kayakers can also unknowingly contribute to its spread.

Lorence said the Beaverkill, a legendary trout stream, has not been tested yet as workers taking samples in the East Branch of the Delaware did not want to risk spreading the organism into that stream after wading in the other stream.

"Anyone who walks in the East Branch, and then the Beaverkill, could spread it," Lorence said.

It Can Get REAL Low...

Delaware River @ low flow looking upstream from Lambertville-New Hope Wing Dam.

The Delaware River is about as low as it can go in this era of controlled flow. Before the giant drinking water reservoirs were built and began releasing water during peiods of drought, it would have been possible to walk across many shallow sections of the river. An antique postcard depicting the Lambertville-New Hope Wing Dam shows many more exposed rocks than one would find today. For that matter, the Upper Delaware didnt support trout before the reservoirs were built, when the river was exclusively a warm water fishery.

The Delaware River at Belvidere shows the flow to be about 300 cfs below daily average for this time of year.

The following report deserves attention. What would the powers-to-be (the oil oligarchy) do if most of us were dependent on small, localized, renewable sources of energy? What lies would they then have to concoct to keep the military industrial complex beast alive? On the other hand, can we run bombers and ships with renewable energy sources? Solar powered ICBMs?

Study: Best Energy Strategies To Meet Demand For Electricity Are Green, Small And Local
9/25/2007

The wisest energy strategy for the United States, and indeed other countries facing similar challenges, is to move away from their reliance on large-scale centralized coal and nuclear plants, and instead, invest in renewable energy systems and small scale decentralized generation technologies.

According to Benjamin Sovacool from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, these alternative technologies are simultaneously feasible, affordable, environmentally friendly, reliable and secure. His analysis (1) and recommendations are published in Springer’s journal Policy Sciences.


The electricity sector as it currently operates is at the mercy of natural disasters, price fluctuations, terrorist attacks and blackouts. Coupled with other, more long-standing problems such as increasing levels of pollution, growing vulnerability and inefficiency of transmission and distribution networks, and rising electricity prices related to disruptions and interruptions in fuel supply, these challenges add to the need for an evaluation of alternative energy technologies.

Sovacool studies in detail the current technological composition of, and challenges faced by, the American electric utility industry. He then evaluates the broad portfolio of energy technologies available to American electricity policy makers, against five criteria: technical feasibility, cost, negative externalities (or impact on human health and the environment), reliability and security.

Sovacool’s detailed analysis shows that three other sets of technologies – energy efficiency practices (like more efficient appliances), renewable energy systems (such as generators that create electricity from sunlight, wind, and falling water), and small-scale distributed generation technologies (such as generators that produce decentralized and modular power close to its point of consumption) – appear to offer many advantages over large and centralized nuclear and fossil fueled generators.

Sovacool’s paper shows how these alternative approaches can offer policy makers solutions to curb electricity demand, minimize the risk of fuel interruptions and shortages, help improve the fragile transmission network, and reduce environmental harm. He concludes that “it is these miniature generators – not mammoth and capital-intensive nuclear and fossil fuel plants – that offer the best strategy for diversifying electrical generation in a competitive energy environment.”

1. Sovacool BK (2007). Coal and nuclear technologies: creating a false dichotomy for American energy policy. Policy Sciences; 40:101-122 (DOI 10.1007/s11077-007-9038-7).
SOURCE: Springer Policy Science Journal

How Low Can It Go?

Sinepuxent Bay sunset as seen from Assateague Island National Seashore. I hope to be there communing with the ponies this October.

Every stream in the Delaware River Basin, including the Delaware River is currently running below the median daily flow. Glaring example is the Musconetcong at Bloomsbury, where the gage reads 98 cfs. I don't recall seeing it that low since I've been reading this gage, and that's been about 14 years (oh mein godt!).

With no precipitation predicted any time soon, will the drought watch be revived?

Trickle down...

Chris and Sue Meyers shoot the last rapid before Lackawaxen, PA.

Sip sip sip...that's the sound of a parched landscape thirsting for for a real rain, which as of this morning has been but a mere drizzle. We could use a half inch of slow soaking rainfall, but it will more likely be a brief deluge.

Enjoyed a trip to the Upper Delaware last Saturday. Stayed at the Lackawaxen Inn where the Pike County Republicans were dining. Place was crawling with Banana Republicans -- stiff hair and all! (WHY ME LAWD?) And I had just received a new shipment of the bumper stickers and didn't have them with me. "Buck Fush" "Lobotomies for Republicans: It's the Law!" "Blood for Oil" Oh well.

We paddled two tandem canoes (I borrowed Wally's Dagger, a sweet canoe) from Narrowsburg to Lackawaxen. It is such a beautiful 12-mile stretch of the river. Looking forward to an autumn trip to the Upper Delaware.

Watching Gabrielle...

Harvesting grapes at Amwell Valley Vineyard. Gabrielle does not appear in the photo. That would be Rosalita. However, Gabrielle may appear as a tropical storm or... worse.

The lovely dry weather continues but that may be interrupted by tropical storm Gabrielle brewing east of Florida, one that foreCATsters suspect might ride up the coast. We could stand a soaking as long as it's brief. Trouble may be brewing though and the weather man says beware...this could become an East Coast Hurricane.

Says AccuWeather: As the high moves over the Atlantic it will bring the low pressure closer to the East Coast....Meteorologists are concerned the system will reach hurricane strength before reaching the East Coast, likely impacting coastal areas from South Carolina to southern New England.

Helped out with the harvest of Gewurztraminer, Ravat 51 and Marechal Foch yesterday. We crushed about 6 tons of grapes. It looks like 2007 will be a good vintage, what with all the California like weather we're enjoying.

Looking forward to an overnighter in Lackawaxen and canoe trip on the upper Delaware this weekend. Balm for the soul.

Drought Watch on PA side of river

Musconetcong River at Bloomsbury as it looked during the 1999 drought, just a month before Hurricane Floyd took the river well out of its banks.

Pennsylvania declared a drought watch for all counties except the eastern part of the state several weeks ago. The eastern portion of the state was added to the watch last week. Most of eastern PA flows to the Delaware River.

Looking around the Delaware River Basin most streams are running at or slightly below normal.

Of course, the calendar is nearing the peak of the hurricane season (Sept. 10) and this is when tropical storms are most likely to form. Indeed, Tropical Storm Felix may be forming right now.

A few of our recent droughts have been broken by tropical storms and hurricanes, notables being Hurricane Floyd and Tropical Storm Allison.

Let's hope for rain to come after the hurricane season ends.

Like I said...$10 per gallon

Concerning the editorial of the last post about the oily Republican geniuses who are destroying this nation: they must be really desperate. None of their lies and scare tactics are working, so they've rolled out a new gem that is sure to scare your pants off:

WASHINGTON -- Gasoline prices could rise to about $9 per gallon if the United States withdraws troops from Iraq prematurely, Rep. Jon Porter said he was told on a trip to Iraq that ended this week.

Welcome to the United States of BOO!

No, he is not a DemonCrat. He is a Banana Repuglican.

Some visitors to this blog may wonder what the oily Empire Builders and war profiteers have to do with our beloved river valley. The national addiction to fossil fuels (leaving room for coal here) overlaps and permeates every aspect of our society, and the impact on the natural world is there to be seen for anyone who cares to see. The harm done to humans is even more evident. That's not to say we aren't part of the "natural world." We need to keep feeding the beast.
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FossilFuel Fools on the River

Dear Mr. Brunner,
My Family and I went tubing on the Delaware River this past weekend and were almost hit numerous times by jet ski's. In addition these jet ski's left behind a noxious smell of gasoline. My question is: Is anything being done to prevent gas motors from being used on the Delaware, one of the last rivers left in New Jersey where one can take a swim?

I got your name with help from Sierra Club Members.

Thanks, Bill W.

Dear Mr. Bill:
I have been involved with this issue as far back as 1993 during my stint with Delaware Riverkeeper and have found a few effective ways to cope that could be considered a surrender of sorts. I do not paddle the river on weekends during the summer and if you must do that, be on the water by 9 AM at the latest because most of the rumb dedneck jetskiers are still sleeping off a hangover! I know you won't be taking your family tubing in the winter, but that is one of my favorite times to paddle; nothing like the serenity of the river after a snow storm.

An even better tactic for jet ski avoidance is to visit the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area or the Upper Delaware National Scenic River. That 100 + mile stretch of river is managed by National Park Service and jet skis are banned. Motor boats have strict speed limits that discourage water skis and jetboats. The water quality is even better upriver, although tubing would not be a good idea in the Class II rapids of the Upper Delaware.

I realize these methods for coping with the the motorheads probably wouldn't help most people who might be limited to using the river locally and on weekends.

As for the pollution problems and habitat destruction that motorized boaters cause in the river, I don't think the states care about that at all. What they do care about are the revenues that come from boat registrations.

It's important to remember that the two state agencies responsible for enforcing boater laws in the lower Delaware River (PA Fish & Boat Commission and NJ Marine Police) receive revenue from registration of jet skis and motor boats, so you can imagine why they wouldn't want to ban jet skis. PA Fish & Boat is very open about their dependency upon registration fees, as the preceding link illustrates. At the same time, budgetary problems mean neither NJ nor PA provide much in the way of traffic enforcement of boater laws. The NJ Marine Police rarely if ever patrol the non-tidal Delaware because they have their hands full in coastal waters dealing with similar problems.

To its credit the National Park Service actually cares about things like water quality and air quality, not to mention the solitude and beauty that jetskiers are inherently incapable of appreciating. With support from organizations up and down the river, NPS has withstood the challenges to the motorized restrictions that are in place upriver, this despite the Bush administration's insidious influence on the Interior Department.

Even if we built yet one more coalition to address jet ski use, I think the most we could hope for at this point is increased enforcement. I've observed bad actors and also people who use these noisy stinkpots with a degree of courtesy.

A comprehensive recreational survey for the lower Delaware River is badly needed, and could be a starting point for assessing the problem. If you are interested in pursuing this further let me know.

Good luck, JB
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EDITORIAL
Jet skis, snowmobiles, cigar boats, SUVs, leaf blowers, plastic bottles, suburban sprawl, obesity: all are one way or another related to oil. It's enough to make me wish for $10 per gallon gasoline prices.

As a nation we're hopelessly addicted to oil. But are we so addicted that we're willing to choose oil executives to run this country? (For those of us who believe the Turd Blossom and the RNC stole two elections the answer would be no). The Busheviks and their ilk have no problem sacrificing the blood of 3700 economically depressed young Americans and 700,000 Iraqis for oil. They have offered up a virtual menu of terror alerts, noble causes and organically produced BS to sustain our complicity.

It will all come crashing down some day with some heavy bad Karma, and when that time comes the planet will be better off, when there's no more oil in the trough. Not in my lifetime maybe, but it is inevitable.

Enough of that! I'm going to drive over to New Hope and buy a Creamsicle now.

BUMPER STICKER OF THE MONTH

Lobotomies for Republicans: IT'S THE LAW!

One River With Multiple Personalities

Pic #1 Looking upstream at Mill Rift, just upstream from Elephant Feet Rocks.
Pic #2 Lunch stop at Buckhorn Natural Area.

The Delaware is one great river, but seen as a water body its characteristics reflect geology and topography as it flows down from its headwaters to its tailwaters. The Delaware River cuts through four physiographic provinces: the Appalachian Plateau, Valley and Ridge (and Highlands subset), Piedmont, and Coastal Plain.

These physiological features have driven the patterns of human settlement and enterprise from the late Paleolithic period to the present.

And in the 21st century the primary activity that occurs in the Applachian Plateau stretch of the river is non-motorized boating with a mild whitewater flavor. The Upper Delaware is the most visited stretch of the river which speaks to its proximity to the NYC metro area and its abundance of class two water. It is also arguably the prettiest section of the river, at least in terms of its natural beauty.

I tend to paddle that which is near me and the Upper River is over 100 miles upstream. So any trip to the Upper Delaware National Scenic River is a rare treat, and so it was last Wednesday when I traveled to Barryville NY for a 10.5 mile run down to Matamoras PA. Neither rain nor mist can diminish the pleasures of playing in the rapids, surrounded by mountains and watched by Bald Eagles. I met up with a soggy group of paddlers from the Mohawk Canoe Club who were on the last day of a 5-day 75-mile canoe and camping trip between Hancock and Matamoras.

I'll be heading back with a group of Piedmont friends to do a slightly longer version of the stretch (7.5 miles longer actually) on September 8. A Mormon needs his Tabernacle, a Catholic her Cathedral, a Moslem his Mosque, a holy roller....well, point being that a river or creek is the only santuary that I need for spiritual uplift.