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Upper Delaware Council honors Rudge, discusses Ten Mile River acquisition

TUSTEN, NY — The Upper Delaware is a region of incredible natural beauty. From its forests and streams to the waters of the Delaware River, the towns and the hamlets within the river corridor exist within an abundance of natural riches.

It’s a state of nature that has stayed the same in part because of economic factors, with the area’s low population density and rural character protecting it from overdevelopment. A number of oversight agencies have put their weight behind these demographic conditions, including the Upper Delaware Council, the National Park Service and the Department of Environmental Conservation, all keeping a careful watch on regional development.

Now a new set of eyes looks set to join them, as the Town of Tusten prepares to reestablish its Conservation Advisory Council (CAC).

CACs are advisory bodies provided for by New York State’s General Municipal Law. They help town boards, planning boards and zoning boards of appeals consider the natural resources of their communities and acknowledge the potential impact of development plans.

Tusten had a CAC between 2008 and 2011, says Susan Sullivan, who served on that iteration of the council. It was founded against a backdrop of regional conversations about fracking; back before fracking was banned in New York State, Dr. William Pammer of Sullivan County’s planning department was encouraging towns to take stock of their natural resources to ensure they could be protected, were fracking to come to town.

Tusten convened a CAC to do just that, which held its first meeting in 2008. Funded by a grant from the Upper Delaware Council, the CAC developed a Natural Resources and Open Space Inventory.

The inventory’s introduction includes a clear statement of purpose: “A defining characteristic of our age is the realization that our planet’s resources are finite, and that our culture is still struggling with this realization.” The inventory surveys Tusten’s land usage, historical landmarks and environmental features.

The CAC existed following the release of the inventory without meetings or agendas. While the inventory is acknowledged as a contributing factor in Tusten’s 2021 draft comprehensive plan, it has had little direct impact upon the town’s development and growth.

That comprehensive plan recommends, for example, that the town reinstate the CAC, and for that CAC to build off the work of its predecessor and create an open space plan.

The town received a grant from the Upper Delaware Council to do just that in its recent cycle of technical assistance grants; when it announced the grant, the UDC said that “the CAC will play a vital role in contributing to the dialogue for future use and protection of land in the town for potential open space and recreation opportunities.”

While the specifics of how the CAC will contribute to that dialogue remain up in the air, the Tusten Town Board heard a presentation on the possibilities from Peter Manning, a consultant with Genius Loci Planning, during its meeting on February 8.

A new iteration of the CAC would start by revising its predecessor’s inventory, said Manning; it was a good inventory with good maps, but it was in need of an update. Following that update, the CAC could proceed to the development of an open space plan.

An open space plan, and an accompanying open space index, would list and rank areas of land within the town by their importance for conservation, and would outline strategies for their protection. The town’s comprehensive plans have historically placed a lot of emphasis on having open, outdoors space, said Manning; an open space plan would be a natural outgrowth of that emphasis. The development of such a plan would, as well, incorporate additional community input—”Nobody wants to be targeted for preservation... without having a conversation with the municipality.”

Once the town’s open spaces were cataloged and their importance was ranked, the CAC could provide the town with tools to conserve its significant open spaces and conduct research on environmental concerns to inform the planning board’s decisions.

A CAC could additionally help the town in negotiations with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) over the fate of the Boy Scouts property at Ten Mile River.

The DEC is currently in talks with the Boy Scouts to acquire thousands of acres of property from the Ten Mile River scout camps, working with the Conservation Fund as an intermediary. Manning said the CAC could work with the DEC going forward to determine the potential uses of the property.

All of those possibilities were contingent upon the town finding representatives to serve on the council. That was the next step, Manning said; the town should start looking at potential candidates, people who were dedicated to the work that the CAC would be doing.

Once candidates are in place, the town can establish the council by local law, with the accompanying public hearing to ensure that all community concerns are heard.