Where is tocks island dam

This is about an injury or accident Something else? Please explain. History buffs and naturalists alike won't want to miss a trip to the Tocks Island Dam Site. In the 's and 's, a series of floods prompted Congress to examine a variety of plans to regulate the flow if the Delaware River. Among the options was an Army Corps of Engineers study and plan to construct a dam in the river basin. It was thought that by controlling the waters of the river, flooding would no longer be an issue and that residents of the area might be spared the wrath of extreme weather.

The dam site was originally slated at the tip of Tocks Island. Construction would have created a mile long lake, with a maximum width of approximately one mile. Nearly permanent residents of the area were relocated, many of whom had moved unwillingly.

The outcry from the former residents of the area combined with the devastating environmental effect caused the dam proposal to be shelved in the 's, and fully decommissioned in Today, the southern tip of Tocks Island appears much as it always has through the ages. Protected by the National Parks Service, the island, and the 40 miles of river behind it, have become an enduring symbol of cooperation between government, citizens, and wilderness. Taking the time to visit the area and to admire the surrounding scenery is a powerful testament to the value of untouched natural spaces.

Family Friendly: Located near roads and easy to navigate trails, this is a great spot for a powerful lesson in conservation. Sign Up or Log In. Connect with Facebook OR. Share on Hiking Project. Create Recommended Route or Trail. Add a Symbol. A long and often bitter battle had ended, and the modern era of environmental consciousness in government had begun. Open Transcript. Female voice one Hi.

The river plays an important role in how we became a National Recreation Area. Male voice A ranger sitting in a canoe in the middle of the river: Female voice one In back to back hurricanes', Connie and Diane, hit this area and flooded it with over two feet of rain. This devastated local communities and took many lives. Because of this disaster, the US Army Corps of Engineers was tasked with finding a solution so that a flood of this magnitude could never happen again. They proposed building a dam at this location behind me, Tocks Island Ranger points over right shoulder.

In order for this project to occur, the government used eminent domain to acquire property from local families and businesses. This forced them to relocated, and understandable made many of them upset. Most of whom would go on to become vocal opponents to the Tock Island Dam project in the years to come. Male voice Ranger walking next to the river: Female voice two However, they were not the only ones upset about the proposed dam.

Numerous environmental groups were forming to try to protect this area and to stop the Tocks Island Dam project. They held public protests, letter writing campaigns, and attended government meetings. One could imagine nothing more foreign to the entrenched culture of militaristic engineering structural bureaucracy in the Corps than hippie squatters. Resentment that had been merely festering boiled over when families, squatters, and hippies moved into the newly acquired houses; watching an entire village empty of its former residents only to be re-populated by others poured salt in the wounds of local residents that had just been evicted and forced off these lands.

This building, and a handful of others, were survivors along the NJ side of the river. In the past, my visits to this structure never amounted to more than a few photographs.

On my last visit in , the open door begged me to "come on in" and take a look, but I was unable to reach the structure due to several factors it's up on a steep rise, and the ground was wet and slippery. This visit however, I was not to be denied and I managed to find a way up. What I found was surprising and what lead to this long research tale, and the hippie squatters. I think this house was one of those that was squatted in during the s based on what I found inside, which you'll see on the other images.

By the late s, all the leases had expired, and the park service had finally evicted all the squatters. The buildings and structures were now under the "protection" of the US Government, and they simply sat and began to rot. Some structures and farms were leased back to former owners under the provision that they could spend the rest of their lives in them and upon their death, the structure reverted back to the park service.

Today, a few farms are worked under lease, and several homes are still lived in, but each time I come through this area I find a few new buildings abandoned that were lived in on my prior visit.

It is 70, acres of preserved land in the middle Delaware River area. The river has been given a "wild and scenic" designation meaning it can never be built upon or disturbed. Thus, the Delaware River remains the last major river in the East without a main-stem dam. Jeffs By: Jeffs Area History time. An interesting read if you'll take the time.