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Thanks to the support of our Directors, members and
our growing list of Friends, in the past year FUDR has made
unprecedented strides in our efforts to protect and enhance the unique
upper Delaware wild trout fishery, the fishery’s related economies and
the region’s ecology. FUDR has continued to focus a public
spotlight on the issues and concerns of this world-class fishery and, more
importantly, has firmly established the foundations necessary to secure
the future of this unique resource.
During the year, FUDR established a Legal Committee
comprised of noted legal scholars, experienced environmental attorneys and
knowledgeable general practice lawyers. Supplementing this experienced
legal team is a less experienced, though no less enthusiastic, team of
environmental law students from one of our most highly recognized eastern
universities? FUDR’s Legal Committee is already researching and
evaluating what laws, regulations and accountability measures will be
essential for the long-term protection of the River. And they are studying
what legal authority the various regulatory agencies have for the
decisions and actions they have taken. The Committee has not ruled out
taking legal action.
Drawing on recognized experts in wild trout
fisheries, computer modeling, environmental engineering, hydrology,
aquatic biology, statistics and riparian structure, FUDR assembled the
only Scientific Committee, that is independent of the regulatory agencies,
to study the problems of, and propose solutions for, the upper Delaware
fishery - most especially the critically needed cold water reservoir
releases. Replacing the seriously flawed computer model that continues to
be used by the agencies, FUDR authorized the Committee to develop its own,
more accurate and efficient model. Indeed, the computer program was
written by one of our newer members. This statistical team, functioning
within our Scientific Committee, is nearing completion of the only study
being done that will scientifically determine what the cold water releases
can be for the upper Delaware and its tributaries. Already, FUDR has
scientifically/statistically determined that a reservoir release protocol
is viable and would be vastly superior to the current system of
arbitrarily determined flow and temperature “targets.” And, through
our research, we have invalidated the agencies’ long used argument that
high reservoir levels in late September are needed to assure full
reservoirs the following June 1st.
FUDR has also been studying the negative effects on
the Delaware’s various individual flood plains that man has, through
nearly 200 years of history, seriously altered. Reflecting FUDR’s
commitment to a comprehensive approach to the entire ecology, we’ve just
begun a major, long-term tributary restoration initiative. Based on
objective criteria, individual restoration projects will not only be
initiated on the larger tributaries, but also on the smaller tributaries
that feed into the larger. By restoring tributaries to their historic
course, spawning will be enhanced, silting reduced and the natural flood
plains will be more fully utilized - contributing to flood minimization.
Channelizing tributaries destroys
valuable spawning areas
This past season, the arbitrarily determined
provisions contained in the Delaware River Basin Commission’s
ill-conceived Revision 7, created an artificial drought - for the fishery
only. That is, while releases for the fishery were unnecessarily
restricted to the point of fish kills, the reservoirs remained very nearly
full. FUDR was the only conservation organization to develop and
vigorously fight for the adoption of a temporary emergency plan that would
have relieved this situation without jeopardizing the needs of any
consumer. Yet, despite these adverse ecological and economic conditions
(conditions that led virtually every business in the Village of Hancock,
the focal center of the fishery, to sign a petition endorsing FUDR and
calling for the rescinding of Revision 7), the regulatory authorities
nonetheless rejected the plan. They did so not because FUDR’s plan
wasn’t viable, it was and it was publicly acknowledged as such; but
rather because it represented a temporary shift away from the historically
failed system of “banks” and “targets” as specified in Revision 7.
During the past year, we have continued our
educational/awareness efforts with elected officials in the four
contiguous states and with countless related organizations and businesses.
And our efforts have not gone unnoticed: increasingly the media, including
such prestigious publications as The New York Times,
have begun to follow the issues of the Delaware and have written of our
efforts. More recently, Field & Stream, perhaps the largest
outdoor publication in the country, named us as one of its “Heroes of
Conservation.”
As a still young organization, we have accomplished
much of what was, indeed, unimaginable only months ago. Still, much more
needs to be done and we hope that you support our efforts.
Thank
You,
Craig
Findley, President
Friends
of the Upper Delaware River
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