"We have treated the river as a backyard for decades. If you go back to the 1700s it was the front door," said Starr, senior vice president of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and a kayaker who says he could rent or store a boat near the Hudson River right in New York City but not here.
On Thursday, Starr led a tour - by van, since river access is poor - of some of the cultural and historical sites for park service officials and others, who responded with murmurs of awe. On Friday, he will lead a briefing for several dozen movers and shakers around the region. U.S. Reps. Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.) and Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.) are expected to begin the lengthy process any day with an official request for a park service study.
The goal would not be new federal lands or substantial rules changes; dredging of the river, for example, would be unaffected. But the National Park Service could bring under one umbrella dozens of sites in three states and promote them as a single resource. It could provide money to build more river access. It could bring in rangers to run tours and other educational programs.
There are 17 national recreation areas around the country, from the Golden Gate in San Francisco to Gateway in North Jersey and New York City. Some are largely federal land and others almost none. Each is managed very differently.
"There is no cookie cutter," said Paul Labovitz, superintendent of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, which he described as an "overlay" of 25 units of state, county, and local government along 72 river miles in and around Minneapolis-St. Paul. Rangers lead bike, canoe, and birding trips. There is no entry gate, and the park's interpretive center is in a science museum.
