$250,000 in grants to Upper Delaware Basin landowners from Common Waters Fund

MILFORD — The Common Waters Fund recently awarded $250,000 in grants to forest owners in the Upper Delaware River Basin to develop forest management plans and implement sustainable management practices that protect water quality. The awards were distributed by the Pinchot Institute for Conservation, which is working with many organizations in the Upper Basin to launch and grow the Fund. First round awards support 48 landowners across Monroe, Pike, and Wayne Counties in Pennsylvania; Delaware and Sullivan Counties in New York; and Sussex and Warren Counties in New Jersey.

“These grants to landowners in the Upper Delaware River Basin are an investment in long-term forest health and water quality,” said Susan Beecher, Executive Director of the Pike County Conservation District and Upper Basin Coordinator for the Common Waters Fund. “Fifteen million people rely on the Delaware River each day for clean drinking water. The investments we make now to help landowners maintain their forest lands upstream will pay us back in clean water for years to come.”

The initial financing for the Fund comes as a grant to the Institute from the United States Endowment for Forestry and Communities, which is supporting pioneering work to link “forests to faucets” around the country.

“We need to strengthen our connections between the forests that provide much of the nation’s drinking water and the people who drink it,” said Carlton Owen, president and CEO of the endowment. “Now is the time to invest in the green infrastructure that provides us with clean water and other benefits such as flood protection, instead of waiting until the natural systems are degraded and water treatment becomes more costly,” he concluded.

Published: Monday, July 11, 2011

Source: http://www.strausnews.com/articles/2011/07 /11/pike_county_courier/news/21.txt

Grants boost forest health and water quality