Press release from the Upper Delaware Council

The potential shut-down of the Upper Delaware Council due to a prolonged review by the Department of the Interior of our Cooperative Agreement with the National Park Service will be discussed at the Feb. 1 UDC meeting (7 p.m. at our 211 Bridge St., Narrowsburg office) in order to develop an action plan.

Here is an update to the attached 12/29/17 letter to the relevant federal agencies expressing the impact of the funding delay:

The Upper Delaware Council is again facing an imminent closure threat due to the inability to access our Fiscal Year 2018 appropriation. We have expended $83,439.07 on federal tasks with no reimbursement since Oct. 1, 2017 and have approximately $56,000 left in our bank account. In order to avoid zeroing out those non-federal monies, we will be compelled to shut down the office, including staff layoffs, by March 30 if no funding is received by then.

The National Park Service (NPS) Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River has our $300,000 appropriation sitting in its budget but lacks authority from the Department of Interior (DOI) to release it via the Awarding Officer at the NPS Northeast Regional Office. We’ve been advised through secondary sources that all Cooperative Agreements over $50,000 in value remain under DOI review, there is no timetable for completion of that review, and there is no recourse to expedite that review. Legal action is contemplated.