Westfall's Bowers to head Upper Delaware River panel

NARROWSBURG, N.Y. — Westfall Township, Representative Alan Bowers will preside over the Upper Delaware Council (UDC) for its 20th anniversary year. He was sworn in as 2008 chairperson at the Annual meeting held Thursday, Jan. 3, in Narrowsburg. Tusten Town Justice Alfred Smith III administered the oath of office to Bowers, who succeeds 2007 UDC Chairperson F. Gerald Mackin of the Town of Hancock, N.Y. Fellow elected officers are Vice-Chairperson Charles Wieland of the Town of Tusten, N.Y, and Secretary-Treasurer John B. Niflot of the Town of Fremont, N.Y. Bowers was first appointed to the UDC board as an alternate representative in 1992. He is a member/past chair of all three of the Council’s standing committees: Water Use/Resource Management; Operations; and Project Review. This is his second term as chairperson, having last fulfilled the annual leadership role in 1998. He served as vice-chair for five non-consecutive years in 2006, 2004, 2001, 1996, and 1994. Bowers is a graduate of Delaware Valley High School and Penn State University, and the father of one son, Alan Jr., who lives in Audubon, N.J. He has been employed for 37 years as a Senior Research Technician at New York University Medical Center’s Nelson Institute of Environmental Medicine in Sterling Forest, N.Y. Bowers is certified by the American Association of Laboratory Animal Science. His sportsman-related memberships include the Wayne-Pike Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Fontinalis Fly Fishermen, the National Wild Turkey Federation, and the Montana Wildlife Federation. The Upper Delaware Council is a not-for-profit corporation which has operated since 1988 under a Cooperative Agreement partnership with the National Park Service to oversee the coordinated implementation of the River Management Plan for the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River. Council members are the eight N.Y. towns and three Pa. townships that border on the Upper Delaware River, as well as the State of New York and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The four townships in Wayne County. — Berlin, Buckingham, Damascus, and Manchester — remain eligible to join. The Delaware River Basin Commission is a non-voting member. The National Park Service Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River is a partner. Monthly meetings take place at the UDC office located at 211 Bridge St. in Narrowsburg on the following regular schedule: Upper Delaware Council, first Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. For more information on the UDC and its activities, please call 845-252-3022 or e-mail Public Relations Specialist Laurie Ramie at udcramie@hvc.rr.com .