Posts by Chris Mele
‘We’re not going to beat Mother Nature’: Tackling climate change in the Delaware River basin
Environmental officials say urgency and innovative thinking are needed
The effects of climate change are already readily apparent in the Delaware Estuary and the window to respond is rapidly shrinking, a panel of federal, state and New York City environmental leaders warned on Tuesday. “Every time we think we have 20 years to do something, it turns out we have 10 or five,” said…
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A ‘sobering’ look at the effects of climate change on the Delaware Estuary
“The challenges we are facing are really immense,” a keynote speaker on Monday warned.
Climate trends in the Delaware Estuary and Basin reflect a blend of spiking temperatures, with a growing number of 90-degree-plus days, increasing and intensifying precipitation, and a rapid rise in sea level, a Penn State professor warned on Monday. The professor, Raymond Najjar, offered what he described as an “exciting, daunting and sobering” assessment of…
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Mammoth industrial park planned near Delaware River could transform Slate Belt
River Pointe Commerce Park, with 13 warehouse-sized buildings of more than 6 million square feet, represents the largest project in the Lehigh Valley perhaps ever, planners say
Head east on I-80 from Stroudsburg, Pa., in the heart of Pennsylvania’s Poconos – once renowned for lovers’ resorts featuring heart-shaped tubs – and snake your way through a series of S-turns. Drive over the Delaware River on the Portland-Columbia Toll Bridge and into Upper Mount Bethel Township, Pa., (population a bit under 6,500). Here…
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Podostemum makes a comeback in the Delaware
The plant, which has not been seen south of the Lehigh since the 1800s, is reappearing in what is seen as a hopeful sign of improving water quality.
It’s a late August evening and Erik Silldorff is wearing a red swim shirt and blue trunks and an oversized sun hat that could practically be a sombrero. He leads the way to a section of the Delaware River near Washington Crossing, Pa., walking over baseball-sized gray river stones that have been exposed by a…
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One-year pause on harvesting female horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay
Endangered red knots rely on the crabs’ eggs to fuel their migration
A regulatory agency last week issued a one-year reprieve on the harvesting of female horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay, a decision viewed as good news for red knots, which rely on the crabs’ eggs for food. But activists said that the agency, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, is still relying on flawed modeling…
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Shoring up the Harbor of Refuge lighthouse
A federal study will explore the breakwater that the Delaware Bay lighthouse is on and recommend fixes
For nearly a century, the Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse off Cape Henlopen, Del., has stood as a sentry for fishing boats, commercial vessels and recreational sailors. The current version of the lighthouse was built in 1926 at the southern end of the stone Harbor of Refuge Breakwater at the mouth of the Delaware Bay where…
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Camp resort plans raise worries about effects on Upper Delaware
Camp FIMFO is drawing criticism for its scale and potential effect on the character of a rural Catskills town.
Editor’s note: This article is part of an occasional series we call “What’s Going on Here?” to highlight projects and developments throughout the Delaware River watershed. A drive across the bridge from Shohola, Pa., into a section of the Upper Delaware River in the Catskills of New York leads to a bucolic section of the…
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Environmental bond act could benefit Delaware watershed in New York
The $4.2B proposal, which would fund water quality and related improvements, is on the Nov. 8 ballot
Update: New York State voters approved the referendum on Election Day, 67 to 33 percent, according to unofficial tallies. The Upper Delaware River watershed in New York could stand to benefit from a statewide ballot before voters on Election Day that would dedicate billions of dollars for water quality improvements, flood risk mitigation and infrastructure…
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Sand lost to erosion being restored at a Delaware Bay beach
3,500 cubic yards of sand at Pickering Beach, southeast of Dover, Del., is being replenished
Walk along a narrow strip of sand between private homes at Pickering Beach, southwest of Dover, Del., and you will find a hive of activity on the beach even though it’s the off-season. Large earth movers and other pieces of machinery are at work restoring sand lost to erosion on the beach, which is on…
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Delaware River Conservation Corps offers career paths
10 groups in the watershed are promoting sustainable jobs in climate resiliency and green infrastructure
When Aaron Kirkland Sr. got out of prison in late 2014, he enrolled in a service in Philadelphia that helps ex-convicts reintegrate to the world after incarceration. Then he heard about a program called PowerCorpsPHL. At the time, he recalled with a laugh, he was skeptical of anything that called itself a program. What he…
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