I just received some EXCITING NEWS from American Rivers: The Delaware River has been selected as its RIVER OF THE YEAR 2020!

A heartfelt THANK YOU AND CONGRATULATIONS to ALL the many organizations, groups and individuals who have worked so hard and long in transforming this river into the national gem it is!

I’ve been telling you all along to GET OUT AND ENJOY your open spaces! We certainly have a wonderful and beautiful area that we live in. 

Consider this:

• The upper, middle, and lower sections of the Delaware River are designated by Congress as a National Wild and Scenic Rivers System
• The Delaware is Warren County’s western border
• Almost all of Warren County is in the Delaware River’s watershed

The Musconetcong River, which borders the northeastern part of Warren County, is also designated by Congress as a National Wild and Scenic Rivers System

Here’s the simple math:

Warren is a beautiful and interesting area + surrounding border areas are also designated as Wild and Scenic + the Delaware River was named the River of the Year 2020 = We live in a great area!

I looked back at my Inside Warren Photo of the Week articles. Since December 2018, I’ve done about 109 articles. Eighteen in one way or another show or reference the Delaware River – the nation’s River of the Year for 2020!! 

DELAWARE RIVER WATERSHED FACTS

• The entire 330-mile main stem from Hancock, New York, to the mouth of Delaware Bay forms an interstate boundary
• Over 15 million people (5% of the U.S. population) rely on its basin waters
• Drains 13,539 square miles, or 0.4 of 1% of the total continental U.S.
• It’s the longest undammed river east of the Mississippi
• It has 216 tributary streams, an estimated 14,057 miles of streams and creeks
• Crosses four states (PA, NJ, NY, DE) plus less than 10 sq. miles in MD
• Spans 42 counties and 838 municipalities

The Delaware River begins from two main branches from the west of the Catskill Mountains.  One begins near Mount Jefferson in Jefferson, New York, and the other begins at Grand Gorge near Roxbury, New York.  They merge and the combined waters flow as the Delaware River south. The Delaware River forms the boundaries between Pennsylvania and New York, the entire boundary between New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and most of the boundary between Delaware and New Jersey.  

The river meets tidewater at the junction of Morrisville, Pennsylvania, and Trenton at the Falls of the Delaware. The river’s navigable tidal section was used for shipping and transportation and helped several industrial New Jersey cities develop.

It is the 33rd largest river in the United States in terms of flow, but one of the nation’s most heavily used rivers. The average annual flow rate of the Delaware is 11,700 cubic feet per second at Trenton. With no dams or impediments on the river’s main stem, the Delaware is one of the few remaining large free-flowing rivers in the United States.  

Water management decisions on the river system are now coordinated through the interstate Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC).  This has greatly protected the river’s water quality all the while ensuring maximum safe usage of this wonderful resource!!

Warren County’s Major Tributaries:

• Paulinskill – 41.6 miles in length flows into Delaware near Delaware Water Gap at Columbia
• Pequest River – 35.7 miles in length flows into Delaware River at Belvidere
• Musconetcong River – 48 miles in length flows into Delaware River across from Rieglesville, Pennsylvania, about 10 miles south of Phillipsburg

HISTORY

In 1609, the river was first visited by Henry Hudson, the English navigator of Hudson Bay fame, leading an expedition searching for a western route to Cathay (present day China). It was never found, but it set the stage for Dutch colonization of North America. Early Dutch and Swedish settlements were established along the lower section of the river, which they called the South River.   

After the English took control of the New Netherland colony in 1664, the river was renamed Delaware, after Sir Thomas West, 3^rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and the Virginia colony’s first royal governor.

I hope you learned something new in this Photo of the Week! Enjoy Your Open Space – YOUR NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED RIVER OF THE YEAR 2020 OPEN SPACE!!

Charlie Fineran