The River Reporter received the following correspondence from 6-year-old Kate Cortright and her 10-year-old brother Chaz expressing their concerns about protecting water quality in the Upper Delaware region.

The note asks The River Reporter to print their “Open Letter to the Delaware River Basin Commission.” The petition on which they collected the signatures of fellow classmates at the Homestead School in Glen Spey, New York, as well as several other friends, can be seen by clicking the thumbnail photos at left above.

It reads: ‘We are just kids under the age of 18 and can not vote but that doesn’t mean we aren’t concerned about what might happen to our Earth, so please keep our water safe. Please, before you do anything to the Earth like hydro-fracking, make sure you study it first so you can protect our environment.’”