The Alliance for the Delaware River National Park & Lenape Preserve requests your signature!

The national parks are America’s best idea. -Wallace Stegner

Help us redesignate the Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area to create the Delaware River National Park & Lenape Preserve!

OUR MISSION

Preserve the natural, cultural, and scenic resources and values of the Delaware River Valley. Ensure protection of critical ecosystems and archeological sites.  Provide opportunities for resource-based recreation, education, and enjoyment near the most densely populated region of the nation.

WHY?

• Of the 63 U.S. national parks, only one national park exists in the entire northeast.
• Annually, over 4 million people celebrate and share these 70,000 beautiful acres of forests, meadows, trails, mountains, and beaches on both sides of the Delaware River.  A comparable number of visitors to Yellowstone and Yosemite!
• The Delaware River is the longest undammed river east of the Mississippi and is designated a Federal Wild and Scenic River. The Delaware River Basin provides habitat to over 400 types of birds, and over 90 fish species. 
• This is the ancestral territory of the Lenape people, called Lenapehoking.  Protection of sacred sites for descendants is a guarantee of the Trust relationship between the U.S. and the federally recognized tribes.
• Over 12,000 years of human occupation are evident in archeological and historical documentation of this area.
• Nearly 500 archeological sites are documented here, of which more than 100 are considered eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. 
• This national park will be within a day’s drive of 15% of the American population, providing recreational equity and parity to the now 60 million people close by the park.
• Visitors can enjoy hiking on the Appalachian Trail, a National Scenic Trail, and 911 Trail as well as bicycling, climbing, cross-country skiing, boating, hunting, and fishing.
• A national park can revitalize and enhance the local economy. Since 2016, visitors to National Park Service lands in Pennsylvania spent an average of $429.8M per year in the local regions.
• A National Park and Lenape Preserve designation both preserves all current uses and enhances protections for our history, our wildlife, and our watershed. 

There is nothing so American as our national parks… The fundamental idea behind the parks… is that the country belongs to the people...for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.  –President Franklin D. Roosevelt

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!

Please join us by signing our petition to help us build Congressional support for this proposal!  THANK YOU!