Delaware Scenic River Reaches
Celebrate 25th Anniversary

The United States Congress approved legislation signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on October 2, 1968, creating the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

Two reaches of the Delaware River were added to the system by Congress on November 10, 1978. One section extends 73 miles from the confluence of the river's East and West branches at Hancock, N.Y. downstream to Milrift, Pa.; the second covers about 40 miles from just south of Port Jervis, N.Y. downstream to the Delaware Water Gap near Stroudsburg, Pa. Combined, these two river corridors take in approximately 145,000 acres.

Fifteen years later, a segment of the Maurice River and several tributaries totaling 35 miles were added to the system. The Maurice, located in New Jersey, is a Delaware Bay tributary.

Congress gave its final approval to two bills in October 2000 that designated a section of the lower Delaware River and the White Clay Creek (which flows from Pennsylvania into Delaware) as "wild and scenic."

The Lower Delaware Wild and Scenic Rivers Act added 65 miles of the Delaware and selected tributaries to the system, linking the Delaware Water Gap and Washington Crossing, Pa., just upstream of Trenton, N.J.

In all, three quarters of the non-tidal Delaware River is now included in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

You can learn more by visiting the DRBC's National Wild and Scenic Rivers System web page.

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