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Delaware River

The Delaware River has been mismanaged since the Supreme Court partitioned the vast Delaware River and its many tributaries to ensure sufficient water supplies for New York City, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Inflexible and antiquated rules designed over a half century ago result in fish kills, a depressed recreational economy, communities in fear of flooding, and a damaged ecosystem. After years of educating the Delaware River Basin Commission about the enormous value of the Delaware River and its headwaters in terms of its ecology and its fishing and boating recreation, conservation groups at last have the opportunity to achieve what once seemed unreachable – a healthy Delaware River protected against inadequate and erratic water releases.

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Message Recipients

Michael R. Bloomberg - Mayor

Your Governor(s)

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Please edit the message below to tell your Governor to the support the Delaware River Adaptive Release Policy. Please note that your personal information is for internal use only, and will not be rented or sold.

Subject:*

Dear (recipient name),

As you are aware, the Delaware River Basin Commission will soon be voting on a new management plan for operation of the New York City Delaware Basin reservoirs.  I am writing to urge you to support the adoption of the conservation coalition’s Adaptive Release Policy to manage the operation of the New York City Delaware Basin reservoirs.

The Delaware River is a vast and valuable resource, flowing 330 miles from the reservoirs to the ocean.  Its tributaries include some of the most famous trout fishing waters in the country: The West Branch Delaware River, the upper main stem of the Delaware River, The East Branch Delaware River, The Neversink River – A $30 million industry.

Although the current adaptive policy proposed by the DRBC follows an adaptive framework that requires more consistent flows from the reservoirs, the coalition’s policy provides clear benefits to ecology, the recreational economy, and flood-prone communities.  Most importantly, the coalition’s policy achieves this without increasing any real risk to water users, as demonstrated by extensive hydrological modeling and analyses.
 
The coalition’s Adaptive Release Policy creates significant improvements in aquatic habitat in the upper main stem of the Delaware River by releasing more water in the spring in summer when reservoirs are above normal capacity.  These increased water releases will protect and substantially improve the economically valuable trout and migratory American shad populations important to the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware.  Because American shad serve as an important food source for striped bass populations along the entire Delaware River and in Delaware Bay, these proposed reservoir release changes will benefit the entire Delaware River ecosystem, as well as communities up and down the river where shad and striped bass fishing help sustain the economy.

I urge you to recognize this historic opportunity to benefit the ecology, the recreational economy, and flood-prone communities along this vast river system by supporting the adoption of the conservation coalition’s Adaptive Release Policy, a policy that potentially can serve a model across the world a “win-win” solution for river basin management.

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