This is a petition to Save the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area from an unneccessary re-designation as a National Park.

REASONS TO OPPOSE the re-designation of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area as a National Park include (but are not limited to):

1. Simply, there is no clearly articulated benefit of changing the designation.
2. Land is already federally owned and protected and managed by the National Park Service.
3. Estimated 600,000 to 1 Million new visitors per year.
4. Increased impact on environment and local infrastructure and emergency services.
5. No corresponding increase in funding.
6. No detailed plan for the change — no maps of boundary changes, no information on impacts to environment, local ecomonies, infrastructure, emergency services, tax bases for local towns, access to recreation and loss of recreational opportunities.

The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DWGNRA) currently hosts incredibly diverse, equitable, and inclusive recreation opportunities across more than 70,000 acres of federally preserved and protected land along the Middle Delaware River in Northwest New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. 

The re-designation is proposed specifically with a goal of increased visitation in mind, and the FALSE claim that National Parks receive greater funding.  The easily foreseen negative impacts on the local environment and local communities far outweigh any perceived benefits of increased visitation. 

Increased visitation would immediately lead to larger negative environmental impacts caused by increased foot and vehicle traffic in the Park, and the need to expand existing infrastructure, build visitor centers and bathrooms, and expand existing parking and build new parking facilities. Increased vehicle traffic outside the Park would rapidly overwhelm local communities. State Highways like NJ Routes 15, 23, 46, 94, and 206  and PA Routes 209, 611, and 6 are already at maximum capacity and would require major upgrades and expansions.  County and Municipal Roads would be completely overwhelmed with no ability to expand without removing homes and businesses. The impact on local infrastructure, as well as increased impact on local police, volunteer fire, and EMS services would fall solely on local tax-paying communities.  

A re-designation as a National Park would significantly restrict and even eliminate existing uses currently enjoyed by the public.  Some of these would inevitably include:

Loss of recreation due to entrance fees, fees and permits for hiking certain trails, camping, canoeing, etc.

Elimination of horseback riding and mountain biking in many areas.
Major restrictions on hunting and fishing—even complete elimination of hunting in many currently permitted hunting areas.

Loss of agricultural leases.

Elimination of state-run trout stocking programs.

Elimination of active species and habitat management, which would cause irreparable harm to species like the endangered Wood turtle and critically endangered Bog Turtle, and declining populations of species like the eastern meadowlark and  Ruffed Grouse.

As the Sierra Club, which is lobbying for this re-designation, has refused to release any clear plan for this re-designation for the public to comment on, we ask that YOU consider the easily foreseen negative effects of such a change, and OPPOSE this re-designation.  
Save the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Oppose the National Park.

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION and tell your elected leaders NO NATIONAL PARK.