UDC on sustainability

By LINDA DROLLINGER
Posted 3/11/20

NARROWSBURG, NY — The Upper Delaware Council (UDC) has been about sustainability long before that term became a household word. Not surprisingly, the March 5 UDC meeting focused on applying …

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UDC on sustainability

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NARROWSBURG, NY — The Upper Delaware Council (UDC) has been about sustainability long before that term became a household word. Not surprisingly, the March 5 UDC meeting focused on applying sustainable practices to organic waste management, the Delaware River fishery, the Skinners Falls Bridge and the UDC itself.

Longtime Tusten Energy Committee chair Brandi Merolla and new fellow committee member Jennifer Porter conducted a presentation outlining the operation and anticipated benefits of Tusten’s recently purchased food waste composter, the HORSE. The closed-container anaerobic digester can consume up to two tons of organic waste (food scraps and greenery waste) per month, or 25 tons per year. Its output of odorless liquid probiotic plant food will be 100 gallons per week plus the generation of 131 million BTUs per year of electrical energy.

Envisioned initially as a resource for restaurant owners, grocers and farmers, the digester will also serve homeowners and tenants who can’t compost. Information about the process and instructions for participation will be available at the Tusten Farmers’ Market, held Saturday mornings between May and October at the Narrowsburg Union.

Asked who will receive the plant food co-product, Porter said first-year production should be enough to sustain the needs of one or more local farms, although how those farms might be chosen is not clear.

The digester purchase price of $102,000 is fully covered by a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) grant for $138,100. The remainder of the grant money will be used to train volunteer HORSE operators and waste contributors. For more information about the HORSE and its co-products, see www.impactbioenergy.com/horse-ad25.

When the subject of fishery sustainability first came up, chair Larry Richardson said, “I want a guarantee no kid will ever hear that he can’t catch a fish.” That prompted DEC representative Bill Rudge to say new state fishing regulations have been proposed.

“I think you’ll be surprised to hear that the state is considering extending the fishing season to include October through April,” said Rudge.
“Won’t that overtax a cold water fishery already threatened by [the] warming climate and growing numbers of sport anglers?” asked council members.

“We don’t think so,” said Rudge. “Extension of the fishing season would be conditioned on catch-and-release for all cold weather catches. But we also know that fish are less stressed, healthier and more resilient in winter.”

Environmental scientist Dan Paparella said he thought only fishing guides and old-timer fishermen know how to practice catch-and-release without harming fish. Rudge replied that a legitimate concern like that should be noted in the public comment section of the DEC website at www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/73297.html. But he added that recent DEC research has shown contemporary fishing to be almost exclusively catch-and-release, anyway.

Richardson announced a March 8 meeting he’s arranged between local leaders and NY State Sen. Jen Metzger to demonstrate firsthand that the Skinners Falls Bridge is an irreplaceable asset (see page 4 for coverage). He hopes she sees it as a designated route for first responders as well as an indispensable link to community hubs such as the Milanville General Store, churches and river access sites.

Since its inception in 1988, the UDC has scrambled for funding, even facing closure for lack of operating capital. Now, through the efforts of PA State Representative Jonathan Fritz, it has secured a $100,000 grant to support a variety of projects undertaken by its individual member towns/townships and the collective organization. For a full list of projects, see www.upperdelawarecouncil.org.

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