Council announces awards honorees

NARROWSBURG, N.Y. - The Upper Delaware Council (UDC) will honor those whose actions have enhanced the Upper Delaware River Valley’s resources and quality of life at its 19th Annual Awards Ceremony on Sunday, Apr. 29. Reservations are due by April 20. The public banquet will take place at the Central House Family Resort, located off Route 652 in Beach Lake, starting at 3 p.m. . Tickets are $23. The Hon. Michael T. Peifer, representative of the 139th Legislative District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, will deliver the keynote address. Those to be recognized at the April 29 banquet include: • Distinguished Service Award - Michael F. Reuber, Chief of Resource Management with the National Park Service (NPS) Upper Delaware Scenic &Recreational River, for his 27-year, multidimensional career with the Upper Delaware unit, coordination assistance of the National Canoe Safety Patrol volunteer organization, and valued service as a member of the UDC’s Water Use/Resource Management Committee. Reuber will retire on June 1, 2007 from 33 years of government service. This is the UDC’s highest honor. • Robin M. Daniels Memorial Lifesaving Award - National Park Service Ranger Robert W. Weber III, NPS Acting Chief of Maintenance Patrick Connolly, the Callicoon Volunteer Fire Department, Welcome Lake Fire & Dive Rescue, and Equinunk Volunteer Fire Department, for the June 27, 2006 rescue of a man endangered in Upper Delaware River flood waters near Tammany Flats, in Wayne County. • Outstanding Community Achievement Award - Shohola Township, for its adoption of innovative conservation ordinances to guide future township development. • Volunteer Award - Upper Delaware Preservation Coalition, Inc., for their citizen-based leadership in the fight against the New York Regional Interconnection power line proposal. • Recreation Achievement Award - Delaware River Water Trail Guide, for the availability of this new resource to aid boaters on the Delaware River Water Trail from Hancock, N.Y. to Trenton, N.J. • Cultural Achievement Award - Norma Schadt, Town of Deerpark Historian, for her publication of “Hawk’s Nest: Newspaper History of the Road”, a book benefiting the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway. • Partnership Award - New York State Department of Transportation Region 9, for its high-priority emergency repair of the Kellams, N.Y.- Stalker, Pa. Bridge that had to be closed after suffering extensive damage in the June 2006 flood. • Community Service Award - Equinunk Watershed Alliance, for forming an active, new organization to protect the preserve the Equinunk, watershed ecosystem. • Special Recognition Award - Narrowsburg Beautification Group, for their aesthetic improvement efforts throughout Narrowsburg, N.Y. since 2001. • Special Recognition Award - Boy Scout Troop #122 of Damascus, for their conservation project removing invasive Water Chestnut plants from a Delaware River feeder pond. • Oaken Gavel Award - Charles Wieland, Town of Tusten, N.Y. UDC representative, for serving with distinction as chairperson of the Upper Delaware Council in 2006. For reservations, call 845-252-3022, or e-mail udcramie@hvc.rr.com .