COCHECTON, NY — We want them to come. We hope that they will. But, when they come in great numbers, they sometimes overwhelm the very resources designed to serve them. That is the case with summer 2020 Delaware River visitors, who are not tourists but metropolitan-area refugees fleeing the coronavirus pandemic.

The August 6 Upper Delaware Council (UDC) meeting dealt with almost nothing else. National Park Service (NPS) acting superintendent Darren Boch opened his report proclaiming a “busy time on the river” and praise for a phenomenon he’d had no experience with prior to his temporary assignment in the Upper Delaware region: Air B&Bs. He’s staying in an unnamed Air B&B in Narrowsburg for the duration of his assignment here and savoring the experience. That prompted him to Google Air B&Bs in the Upper Delaware area and, discovering how many there are, he thought maybe a partnership between NPS and Air B&B (“Go River”) would benefit the park service, area businesses and visitors to the region.

Even as Boch was touting Air B&Bs, Tusten UDC representative Susan Sullivan was blaming them for attracting visitors unfamiliar with the area and its offerings. She related an anecdote about visitors she encountered at the Skinners Falls access site complaining that they couldn’t find Skinners Falls. Expecting a waterfall, they had no idea that Skinners Falls is actually a section of river rapids.

Damascus UDC representative Jeff Dexter complained that trash at Skinners Falls, long a problem, has reached crisis proportions. “Trash receptacles at the site are just inadequate,” said Dexter, echoing reports from other representatives that access sites up and down the river are strewn with litter. Boch acknowledged that “too much trash” has become a chorus chanted by his staffers.

Parking at, and near, overcrowded access sites has become so problematic that it now poses highway safety issues. Lumberland representative Nadia Rajsz, not present at the meeting, submitted her concerns in absentia. Detailing illegal parking by river users along Route 97, Rajsz challenged the council to come up with alternative parking arrangements for far more vehicles than are usually in the area.

Amid angst over too many visitors and too few resources to handle them, Boch announced the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, bipartisan legislation signed into law by President Trump on August 4. The act provides $9.5 billion, derived from oil and gas revenues, to fix and repair aged national park infrastructure. Although NPS estimates indicate $12 billion worth of need nationwide, Boch said, “This signature piece of legislation is good news for everyone who loves national parks.”

The act stipulates a 90-day timeline (from date of signing) for park service administrators to submit project funding requests. Because of the short timeline, Boch must initiate what he would have preferred the next Upper Delaware NPS superintendent to do. He proposes that the Upper Delaware’s project funding go to much-needed repair and maintenance of the historic and iconic Roebling Bridge.

Boch said the posting for Upper Delaware superintendent has closed and that announcement of the successful candidate should come in about 60 days.

Both NPS and UDC contend with stagnant personnel funding. NPS recently gained one additional law enforcement ranger. Originally slotted for five employees, UDC has long made do with three. The newest, land use and resource specialist Shannon Cilento, announced granting of substantial conformance recommendations for two Narrowsburg special use applications: one to operate a cafe within the existing Narrowsburg Motors showroom; the other to operate a retail establishment (Tess) within an existing Main Street storefront. Both received council approval.