Voting underway to name Lackawaxen River of the Year, second time since 2010

Love the Lackawaxen? If so, river recreation promoters in the Wayne and Pike County area are hoping you will cast your vote to name the Lackawaxen the 2024 River of the Year in an annual, statewide contest.

The River of the Year contest is administered by Pennsylvania Organization of Watersheds and Rivers (POWR), an affiliate of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and based in Luzerne. The program receives funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).

Nominations are accepted every autumn. Up to five nominated waterways are selected to go up for public vote. This year there are three rivers on the ballot. The Lackawaxen River is competing for votes with two much longer rivers in western Pennsylvania, the Allegheny River, and the Youghiogheny River.

Votes can be taken through 5 p.m. on Jan. 19, 2024.

The Lackawaxen has been nominated by a volunteer group promoting and establishing land and water trails in the Lackawaxen River corridor, Lackawaxen River Trails. This is a rebranding of the original Wayne Pike Waterways & Trails Alliance. Molly Rodgers of Lackawaxen River Trails commented, "The whole volunteer group agreed to nominate the river and it was Dan Corrigan who actually wrote the nomination. If the river wins, it means $10,000 to be used for events on the river throughout the year, bringing people and attention to the river and the area."

Events can include things like river cleanup days, guided paddling especially for people who have never been on the river, the annual Honesdale Area Jaycees' Wayne County Canoe Classic and featuring the river at community events such as festivals in the Hawley area.

"So, part of the benefit is attention to the river itself, what lives in and along it, how to conserve it," Rodgers said, "and part of the benefit is to the area as people discover the river which has been overlooked for years. As we open more river access sites, the whole area will benefit."

Corrigan, who is owner of Sawmill Cycle & Wilderness Experience in Honesdale, added that the River of the Year distinction can help in raising awareness, and help highlight the anticipated opening of Sycamore Point and the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat access in Honesdale, in 2024.

The trails group is actively working on a project to make a river trail on 12th Street beginning near the Church Street Bridge, to the boating access where the Lackawaxen River bends, at Industrial Point. The Wayne County commissioners, who are renaming it Sycamore Point, are planning to create a shady public park there in view of the river, with parking.

More: Honesdale OKs easement for pedestrian pathway to Lackawaxen River trail

Lackawaxen River Trails celebrated the opening of the second Fish & Boat Commission river access this year at White Mills. The first one opened in 2020 at Bingham Park, Hawley. Two more are planned at Sycamore Point and behind The Dime Bank facility at Indian Orchard.

Along with quality of life, healthy outdoor attractions also benefit an area economically.

Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau (PMVB) has been actively promoting Lackawaxen River area attractions and voting for River of the Year.

James Hamill of PMVB, who is also part of Lackawaxen River Trails, commented, "Enhancing and capitalizing on the natural resources of Wayne and Pike Counties is exactly what [PMVB] wants to support."

Hamill said they have as their goal, "to raise awareness of our beautiful forests and beautiful waterways. Green tourism is a big sector of the market." The designation, Hamill said, will "promote our availability to visitors and tourists, to look at us as a destination." Public trails, whether by land or by water, are free attractions that help draw people, who in turn will help the local economy by their visit. He added, "Trail development is economic development."

Corrigan said they have stiff competition for River of the Year with the other two candidate rivers, including more densely populated areas. He noted, however, that the 31-mile Lackawaxen is a tributary to the Delaware River and has this active grassroots volunteer effort promoting the river.

Hamill noted that Alleghany and Youghiogheny already have a well-established and long-time outdoor recreation focus, and the Lackawaxen River is just starting out. "Who doesn't love an underdog?" Hamill said, finding another good reason to vote for the Lackawaxen.

The growing interest in the Lackawaxen for recreation must go to local leadership, including government, nonprofit agencies, and organizations, which agree on the benefits of outdoor recreation on quality of and health, Hamill said.

He added that just the fact that the Lackawaxen River has been nominated is an amazing success.

The Lackawaxen River was named River of the Year once before, in 2010, since the program began in 1983.

The North Branch of the Susquehanna River, the 2023 River of the Year, carried that distinction multiple times before. The nearby Upper Delaware was so named in 1995. The Lehigh River was River of the Year in 1997 and 2007.

POWR and the DCNR work with the winner to create a free, commemorative poster celebrating the River of the Year.

To cast a vote for 2024 River of the Year, visit lackawaxenrivertrails.org.

For more information, visit pawatersheds.org or contact POWR Executive Director Janet Sweeney at jsweeney@pecpa.org.

Peter Becker has worked at the Tri-County Independent or its predecessor publications since 1994. Reach him at pbecker@tricountyindependent.com or 570-253-3055 ext. 1588.

This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: River of the Year: Lackawaxen faces Allegheny, Youghiogheny