DFS Resource Assessment - Delaware Department of Agriculture

Roxbury, NY and flows southward towards New York
City to create the Pepacton Reservoir, the largest reservoir
in the NYC water supply system. The confluence of both
branches is just south of Hancock, NY. Below Trenton,
the river flows between Philadelphia and New Jersey
before becoming a broad inlet of the sea, widening
steadily into the Delaware Bay Estuary. The Delaware
Bay Estuary is the tidal portion, or the lower half, of the
Delaware River Basin. The area surrounding the estuary
stretches as far west as the Schuylkill River’s headwaters
near Pottsville, PA, and to the east near Fort Dix, NJ. The
vastness of this watershed makes the Delaware Bay
Estuary one of the largest estuaries in the country,
approximately 6,800 square miles in size. Within these
boundaries are over 200 species of fish, the continent’s
second-highest concentration of shorebirds, and over
400,000 acres of wetlands.
Major Landforms
The Upper Delaware River lies between the Appalachian
Plateau physiographic province and Catskill
physiographic province. Elevations vary from 800 to
2,000 feet, and as a result, many unique land formations
exist. The Delaware River Gorge, identified as an
outstanding scenic geologic feature, begins above
Matamoras, PA and runs north along parts of the river.
Below Port Jervis, NY, the Wallpack Ridge deflects the
Delaware River into the buried, glacial till of the Minisink
Valley, where it follows the southwest strike of the eroded
Marcellus beds along the Pennsylvania-New Jersey state
line to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.
It then skirts the Kittatinny Ridge which it crosses at the
Delaware Water Gap between nearly vertical walls of
limestone and passes through farms and forest until it
crosses the Appalachian Plain and enters the hills again at
Easton, PA. Here it is flanked by some of the finest cliffs
known as the Nockamixon Rocks which are three miles
long and more than 200 feet high.
Forest and Ecological Attributes
The Upper Delaware Valley Northern Hardwood forests
support a thriving lumber industry, producing thousands
of cubic feet of veneer logs, sawlogs, millwood, and
pulpwood each year. Farther south these forests give way
to rich Mixed Mesophytic forests. Dryer and rockier
uplands and ridges support Oak-Chestnut type forests
dominated by oaks, hickories and, in the past, by the
American chestnut. The Southern and Central
Appalachians forests consist largely of black, northern,
red, white, scarlet and chestnut oaks. The richest forests
have dominantly white and northern red oaks, while the
driest sites are dominated by chestnut oak, or sometimes
by scarlet or northern red oaks.
The Upper Delaware River Corridor contains diverse
habitats that support abundant wildlife populations
including the bald eagle. During the winter, bald eagles
from the northern portions of the United States and
Canada move southward to the Upper Delaware with its
open water and reliable food supplies. Almost 70 percent
of Pennsylvania’s otter population resides in the basin and
wildlife biologists believe that Pike County, PA, has one
of the highest black bear populations in the state. In
addition, the river is part of the Atlantic Flyway, hosting
approximately 200 species of birds in the wooded
riverside habitats.
Geologic processes left many economically valuable
deposits, including bluestone, sand and gravel, shale, and
peat. The parent materials of most of the soils within the
river corridor have accumulated largely through glacial
action and deposited as till or outwash from receding
glaciers. The Marcellus Shale formation underlies about
36 percent of the Delaware River Basin. Much of the new
natural gas drilling interest in northeastern Pennsylvania
and southern New York is targeted at reaching this gas.
Landownership Characteristics
Demographics vary considerably and population is
unevenly distributed across the basin. The 2000 Census
estimates the population at 7.76 million. This figure is
expected to increase to 9 million by 2030. Density
continues to increase with an average of 603 people per
square mile, although it varies dramatically by location in
the basin. The vast majority of people live in the Lower
Region (78 percent), where older communities, most
notably Philadelphia, continue to experience population
loss while more sparsely developed areas continue to
grow and urbanize. The Central Region of the basin
known as the Pocono Region continues to grow. The
Pennsylvania counties of Pike and Monroe and New
Jersey’s Sussex County experienced the greatest growth in
recent years. Headwater areas have remained sparsely
developed due to distance from other population centers,
poor accessibility and steep terrain, although seasonal
home development has increased considerably.
Population Attributes – Major Interstate Highway Routes
There are a number of major interstate highways within
the Delaware River Basin. The western terminus of
Interstate 84 connects to Interstate 81 in Scranton;
Interstate 80 can be accessed near the Delaware Water
Gap. Farther south, Interstate 276 is accessible in
Philadelphia, Interstate 95 near Trenton and Interstate 295
near Camden, NJ.
In the northern part of the basin it is important to note
New York State Route 97. This road is a 70-mile north/
south scenic route in southern New York. It runs from
U.S. Route 6 and U.S. 209 in Port Jervis to NY 17 in
Hancock. Its most famous feature is the Hawk’s Nest, a
tightly winding section of the road along the Delaware
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