Visitor Use Management Plan for DEWA and MDSR

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and Middle Delaware National Scenic River » Visitor Use Management Plan for DEWA and MDSR » Document List

The National Park Service (NPS) developed a Visitor Use Management Plan (VUM Plan) as an amendment to the existing 1987 General Management Plan (GMP) for the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and the Middle Delaware National Scenic and Recreational River (DEWA). The purpose of the VUM Plan is to maximize the ability of the National Park Service to encourage access, improve visitor experiences, and protect the natural and cultural resources of DEWA. This planning process examines current and potential visitor activities and services and develops long-term strategies for providing access, connecting visitors to important experiences, and managing visitor use. Many of the park's planning and management documents do not reflect current visitor use patterns and needs, so this plan provides updated guidance for addressing current and future visitor use opportunities, management techniques, visitor safety concerns, and resource protection concerns.

Through a planning process, the park has taken a comprehensive approach to managing visitor use on a parkwide level. This process assessed the current and new/evolving visitor experiences while considering visitor safety, visitor experiences, resource protection, and operational sustainability. A robust public engagement effort allowed the planning team to get stakeholder input at several stages throughout the process. This informed the development of specific and up-to-date direction on visitor management and strategies for resource protection within the context of today's visitor use patterns and resource conditions.

The final product (VUM Plan) will provide park managers with specific guidance for achieving desired conditions and a suite of appropriate and sustainable near, mid and long term management strategies as articulated by the plan's goals, objectives, and management strategies.

The final plan and comment summaries are available on this site. The VUM Plan can also be found on the park website: http://www.nps.gov/dewa/index.htm

As always, thank you for your continued interest in and support for Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

Contact Information

Leslie Morlock at 570-296-6952 x10 or Kathleen Sandt at 570-234-9144