From new river access points in Honesdale and Lackawaxen Township to a shelved proposal for a Wild and Scenic River designation, the Lackawaxen River has seen its fair share of activity over the past few months and years.

The River Reporter set out to talk with elected officials, conservationists and other people who care about the Lackawaxen River to better understand how all these different initiatives connect and conflict. Here is what we found.

NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA — Last October, local community leaders and state dignitaries gathered in Honesdale to celebrate the opening of the newly-constructed Sycamore Point Park. The park construction took a cluster of crumbling commercial buildings known as Industrial Point and turned the area into an aesthetically appealing, tree-lined park, complete with benches and walkways.

It also opened up an access point for people to kayak in, walk near or just look at and appreciate the beauty of the Lackawaxen River, something that has been a long time in coming.

The energy behind the development of walking trails and public river accesses in Wayne and Pike counties began to gather in earnest around 2017, with the formation of the Wayne-Pike Trails and Waterways Alliance.

The alliance brought together a number of groups throughout the area to think about “turning the face of our communities back to the river,” said Grant Genzlinger, a member of the effort since its inception.

The Lackawaxen River was “crucial” for the development of the Wayne-Pike area, said Genzlinger. It provided a means of transportation; it generated energy; it connected Wayne County to the wider world.

However, trends of development up to the 2010s had turned the community’s attention away from its watery spine.

“The Lackawaxen River, until we got involved, had no public accesses in Wayne or Pike counties directly to the river,” said Genzlinger.

The alliance set about gathering support for the creation of public infrastructure along the river. Starting in 2018, the alliance worked with the Wayne County Commissioners to create a Wayne County Trail Feasibility Study. That study surveyed key stakeholders and the broader community about their support for a trail system, and examined the practical and legal requirements for a trail network’s creation.

The final study, published in May 2020, found a trail network in Wayne County was both possible and wanted.

“Ultimately, the Wayne County Trail Feasibility Study has determined that public support for the project is strong and that it is physically feasible to construct the segments of the Trail Concept Plan,” reads a portion of the study’s executive summary.

Rail and/or trails

The trail concept set out in the feasibility study was ambitious in scope.

The core of the trail would be built along the railroad line connecting Honesdale and Hawley.

The system of rails in and around Honesdale began life as a gravity railroad, with rail cars carrying coal from Carbondale mines to the Delaware and Hudson Canal. The Stourbridge Lion, a steam train brought over from England in 1829, added a new form of power to this rail network and marked the first commercial use of steam locomotion in America.

Other historic railbeds throughout the Poconos have been acquired and renovated into trails. The NEPA Rail-Trails Council, founded in 1991, bought 38 miles of Delaware and Hudson railbed along the eastern border of Susquehanna County, and has an easement to use eight miles of the Ontario and Western railbed where it runs parallel to the D&H. Looking a little further afield, portions of the O&W railbed in Sullivan County, NY have been developed into rail trails, with a county feasibility study mapping out a 50-mile stretch for development.

However, unlike other sets of railroad tracks throughout the country, which have been fully abandoned and adapted into rail trails, the line between Honesdale and Hawley is currently in operation.

The Stourbridge Line, a recreational and tourist attraction, runs trains along that line, paying homage to Honesdale’s railroad history while offering a unique way to experience the region’s scenic beauty.

Because of the active railroad in the area, the feasibility study did not propose to replace the rails with trails. Instead, it proposed to merge them, with a trail running alongside the railroad tracks in the railroad’s right-of-way corridor connecting Honesdale to Hawley.

The railroad saw the trails project as beneficial to its operations as well, with railroad operator Tom Myles “seeing it as a logical tourist use” according to the feasibility study, and participated in initial feasibility explorations.

The full trail proposal includes offshoots from the rail line as well, with trail construction proposed at Apple Grove Park and up to Irving Cliff in Honesdale, and trails planned around the Route 6 Plaza in Texas Township.

The Lackawaxen River is pictured here as seen from a pedestrian bridge off Court Street as it flows through Honesdale.

Trail building benefits…

Rail trails such as the one proposed between Honesdale and Hawley can be recreational and economic assets, providing locals and tourists with a means of enjoying the natural world.

Beyond being a recreational asset, this trail network would provide accessibility for people in the Wayne-Pike area who may find it difficult to get around.

People living in the Honesdale area often can’t get places if they don’t have a ride, said Honesdale Mayor Derek Williams, who ran for office in part on the platform of creating a more pedestrian-friendly borough. He adds that, when people do walk, they often have to do so along Route 6, which, he said, was a “frightening” prospect.

The benefit of giving people access “completely transcends” the trail’s tourism potential, said Williams.

…and barriers

The idea of opening up a trail along the Lackawaxen River encountered some pushback, with residents expressing concern at public meetings about the possible problems with trash, trespassing and more.

These concerns grew louder as the trail alliance looked to expand its efforts further south.

The Wayne-Pike Trails and Waterways Alliance, which by then had formed into the more formal Lackawaxen River Trails (LRT), helped create a Pike County Trail Feasibility Study, published October 2022. It was the Pike County equivalent to the Wayne feasibility study, surveying the area from Hawley to Lackawaxen to evaluate the possibility of a trail in that area.

Like the Wayne County study, the Pike County study found that a trail was feasible. However, unlike in Wayne County, the Pike County study recommended that the Pike County Commissioners not move forward with the trail’s construction.

“As public input meetings were held during the feasibility study process, it became clear that citizens were not in support of new trails at this time, nor projects that may stem from this study regarding trails, trailheads or river access locations… The commissioners are encouraged to consider the opposition expressed by the public and the Lackawaxen Township Supervisors,” reads a portion of the study’s forward.

Concerns expressed by the public and summarized in the study included safety and policing of the trail, trespassing, trash, illegal substances and access for first responders.

“We had an outpouring of opposition among our residents who live along the river who have the railroad tracks on their property,” said Mike Mancino, a Lackawaxen Township supervisor.

The township board of supervisors originally supported conducting the study, but withdrew its support before the study’s conclusion.

“We understand as a community that a hiking trail could be pretty cool,” said Mancino. At the same time, homeowners in Lackawaxen asked others to see the situation from their perspective, he says.

A homeowner might have a beautiful spot along the river, raising a family, feeling free to let their young children run down to the river, he said. “Now suddenly, that railroad track [in your backyard] is a hiking trail.”

Despite the concerns people had about the trails, overall public sentiment was broadly favorable throughout the project’s surveys. A poll conducted for the Wayne County trail feasibility study had 93 percent of participants respond favorably to the idea of a multi-use trail; the same polling done in Pike got a 84 percent favorable response.

In addition, the study indicated that many of people’s concerns “would be understood within the basic mindset of the experienced trail user, likely reducing those concerns, and even the seasoned trail user would actually police those concerns along the proposed route.” In other words, the average trail user would be more likely to pick up trash than to leave it behind.

LRT organizes volunteers to maintain and clean-up the trails under its purview, and its website includes ways to join such cleanups as well as other ways to get involved.

“The idea of safe, outdoors recreation by means of trails, whatever form they take, I think is a net positive,” said Genzlinger.

Stay tuned for future installments of this series in upcoming editions of the River Reporter.  

Want to add your voice to this story? Reach out to liam@riverreporter.com or to 845/252-7414, ext. 128.