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Aaron Robinson being sworn in as president

UDC Elects 2018 Officers

Caption: Shohola Township Board of Supervisors Chairman Greg Hoeper, left, administers the oath of office to Upper Delaware Council 2018 Chairperson Aaron Robinson at the Feb. 1 UDC meeting.

NARROWSBURG – The Upper Delaware Council, Inc. (UDC) board elected Shohola Township Representative Aaron I. Robinson to serve as its 2018 chairperson at the non-profit organization’s annual meeting held Feb. 1 (rescheduled from Jan. 4).

UDC Representatives David M. Dean, Town of Deerpark, NY, and Alan F. Henry, Berlin Township, PA, were elected vice-chairperson and secretary-treasurer, respectively.

All three officers were sworn in at the UDC’s next monthly meeting on Feb. 1.

Chairperson

Aaron Robinson is accepting his first officer position with the Council. He succeeds James A. Greier of the Town of Fremont in the chairperson’s seat.

Robinson was appointed on Jan. 3, 2012 as Shohola Township’s 2nd alternate to the UDC board, became the 1st alternate in 2015, and took over as representative in 2016. He has served on the Project Review and Operations Committees, as well as the Personnel Subcommittee.

The 62-year-old graduated from Eldred High School in 1973 after his family made the permanent move from New York City to their river-side property in Barryville in 1969.

Robinson completed the Agricultural and Life Sciences School program at Cornell University in Ithaca in an accelerated three years, during which time he served as the 18-year-old secretary-treasurer of an activist group called Catskill Waters that prompted New York City to settle a lawsuit out-of-court to compel more balanced reservoir releases in support of the Delaware River fishery.

In 1975, he researched and composed a 34-page booklet titled, “White Water Boating on the Upper Delaware River: A Guide to Canoeing, Kayaking and Camping”, and then produced a two-section set of “Recreation Maps of the Upper Delaware River” over the next year which he also self-published and sold.

Robinson worked after college for the Lovelace family who owned Jerry’s Three River Canoes and had a part-time sawmill operation in Barryville. He opted to purchase the latter business at the age of 21 and successfully operated Robinson’s Sawmill for 24 years, with two international patents for wood-related equipment to his credit.

For the past 20 years, Aaron and his wife Randy have lived along the Shohola Creek in Shohola Township, PA, where he manages an 800-acre timber stand and Firewood-on-Time, a business for which he cuts, splits, and delivers firewood.

Robinson has served on the Shohola Township Planning Commission since 2009, is a trustee and cemetery coordinator of Temple Beth-El Synagogue in Port Jervis, and assists with philanthropic projects of the New York State Lumberman’s Insurance Trust Fund. He is a former member of the Highland Zoning Board of Appeals and the Eldred Central School Board of Education.

Vice-Chairperson

“Dave” Dean will serve his second consecutive term as Vice-Chair of the Council. He is also a member of the Project Review and Operations Committees.

The Town of Deerpark appointed him as its UDC representative on Oct. 17, 2011.

Dean is a fourth-generation resident of the Town of Deerpark. He was elected to the Town Council in 2010 after fulfilling a one-year vacant term, and having previously logged 13 years on the Town of Deerpark Planning Board.

The councilman and deputy supervisor graduated from Port Jervis High School in 1968, studied architecture and land use at the University of Miami for two years, enlisted in the U.S. Navy for which he served as a Machinist Mate from 1971-72, and then worked for 10 years as a project manager for a Connecticut developer.

For the past 20 years, Dave and his wife Michele have been self-employed as distributors for Dispoz-A-Blade LLC, which offers a line of German tooling products used to finish lumber, and the couple also manages real estate holdings.

Dave and Michele have been married for 40 years and have two daughters. Alyson and her husband Joseph live in Middletown, NY with their two sons. Erin and Padraic live in Ossining, NY.

Dean is a member of the Town of Deerpark Republican Committee and the Cahoonzie Hunting Club.

He enjoys fishing, hunting, road trips in their BMW sports car, and spending time with family.

Secretary-Treasurer

“Al” Henry was appointed by the Berlin Township Board of Supervisors as its UDC delegate on Jan. 3, 2012.

He chaired the Council in 2015 after having served as its secretary-treasurer from Aug. 1-Dec. 31, 2013, then again in 2014, 2016 and 2017. He sits on all three UDC standing committees and chairs its Personnel Subcommittee.

A native of Beach Lake, PA, Henry was employed by the National Park Service (NPS) for 32 years, all but two years of that tenure with the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, before retiring on June 1, 2009 as Chief Ranger.

The Honesdale High School graduate earned a Bachelor’s degree in Recreation and Parks from Penn State University in 1976 and studied Outdoor Education at the University of Northern Colorado before joining the NPS ranks in 1977.

In addition to extensive law enforcement credentials, Henry earned certification as an NAUI Divemaster, served as a volunteer firefighter, and coached baseball and soccer locally.

Henry has recently worked for Northeast Wilderness Experience as a guide for river and hiking trips and for 3 B’s Indoor Shooting Range in Honesdale as a firearms instructor. He also helps maintain his family’s 300-acre Village View Farm property in Beach Lake, and is a member of the Beach Lake Hunting and Fishing Club.

Al and his wife, Karen Carlson, are the parents of Dr. Alana Rickard of Beach Lake and attorney Dylan Henry of Ardmore, PA, and are the grandparents of Beau, the son of Alana and Bart Rickard.

About the UDC

Established in 1988, the Upper Delaware Council works in partnership with the National Park Service to oversee implementation of the River Management Plan for the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River.

The U.S. Congress designated the 73.4-mile-long, 55,574.5-acre corridor which starts below the confluence of the East and West Branches of the Delaware in Hancock, NY and extends to Railroad Bridge No. 2 in Mill Rift, PA, to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System in 1978.

The UDC’s members are 13 local governments (eight NY towns and five PA townships) that have property along the river, as well as the State of New York, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the Delaware River Basin Commission.

For more information, please contact the Narrowsburg business office at 211 Bridge St., (845) 252-3022, or visit the website at www.upperdelawarecouncil.org.

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