Latest News

Photo: 2026 UDC Vice-chair Evan Padua, Chairperson Jeff Dexter, and Secretary-Treasurer Al Henry

NARROWSBURG – The Upper Delaware Council, Inc. (UDC) board elected Damascus Township, PA Representative Jeffrey R. Dexter to serve as its 2026 chairperson at the non-profit organization’s annual meeting held Jan. 8th.

UDC Representatives Evan Padua, Town of Tusten, NY, and Alan F. Henry, Berlin Township, PA, were elected vice-chairperson and secretary-treasurer, respectively.

While election results were immediately binding, the officers will be ceremonially sworn in at the UDC’s next monthly meeting on Feb. 5, followed by an annual reception.

Chairperson

“Jeff” Dexter, a former township supervisor and 16-year UDC delegate, succeeds 2025 UDC Chairperson Jim Rodgers (Town of Fremont).

He’s now a three-time leader of the board after his prior 2013 and 2021 elections, served as vice-chair five times (2012, 2016, 2019, 2020, and 2024), as was secretary-treasurer in 2015.

Dexter was instrumental in Damascus Township’s decision to join the Council, which began operations in 1988, as of July 21, 2008. The Board of Supervisors appointed him as its 1st alternate in 2010 before he took over in 2012 as representative.

He serves on the UDC’s Project Review and Operations Committee, and its Personnel Subcommittee. Dexter was a co-recipient of the UDC’s 2023 Outstanding Community Achievement Award for his ongoing participation with the Damascus Township Parks and Recreation Committee and the 2020 Robin M. Daniels Memorial Lifesaving Award for a river rescue with the Damascus Township Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

The Cochecton, NY native, who can trace his family genealogy back to relatives who lived at the Cushetunk Settlement, graduated from Narrowsburg Central School in 1967. He earned a 1971 Bachelor’s degree in Resources Management from the College of Forestry at Syracuse University, including one year of study at SUNY Alfred Agriculture and Technical College.

Dexter worked for the Arizona State Parks System for 31 years before he retired from that career in 2003 and returned to the Upper Delaware River Valley.

His public service in Damascus Township began in 2005 when he was elected to the Board of Supervisors, including six years as chairperson, before stepping down in 2015. Dexter then served as Township Auditor from 2016-2022.

He has worked as a Disaster Building Inspector with the Federal Emergency Management Agency since 2005, serves on the Damascus Township Volunteer Ambulance Corps Board of Trustees, patrols and maintains the Damascus Forest reserve, leads the volunteer team that staffs the County Recycling Bin open to the public every 2nd Saturday of the month at the Damascus Manor Community Center, and belongs to Grace Ridge Church in Honesdale.

Jeff and his wife, Linda, built their dream log home on 19 acres in Damascus, where he enjoys working on his wood lot, making maple syrup, building rock walls, picking blueberries, and tending to a vegetable garden. The couple has three children: Kari, Bethany, and Jonathan.

Vice-Chairperson

Evan Padua repeats his 2025 role as the 2026 UDC vice-chairperson.

The Tusten Town Board appointed Padua as its UDC alternate on May 1, 2018. He stepped up as the voting representative in January 2023 and was elected to chair the Council’s Water Use/Resource Management Committee in 2024 and 2025.

Growing up in Narrowsburg, NY, Padua attended Homestead School and Damascus Elementary School before graduating from Honesdale High School in 2009.

He moved west at age 18 to guide on rivers in Alaska and Wyoming and work as a ski instructor in the Rockies before opting to return to the Upper Delaware River Valley in 2015 to join his father, Michael, in operating Sweetwater Guide Service. They offer year-round guided fishing trips on the Delaware River and its branches.

Padua is writing a new biweekly column for the River Reporter titled “Step Outside”, has provided angling seminars for the Western Sullivan Public Library System, is a member of Trout Unlimited, TU’s Shehawken Chapter, the Delaware Highlands Conservancy, and participates in several land and river litter clean-up initiatives.

Evan and his wife, Cherene, reside in Tyler Hill, PA with their daughter, Desirae.

Secretary-Treasurer

Al Henry was appointed by the Berlin Township Board of Supervisors as its UDC delegate in January 2012.

This is his 13th stint as secretary-treasurer starting with a partial term from Aug. 1-Dec. 31 in 2013, a full year in 2014, then from 2016-2026. In 2015, he was elected to chair the Council.

Henry serves on all three UDC standing committees and chairs the Personnel Subcommittee.

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

The Honesdale High School graduate earned a 1976 Bachelor’s degree in Recreation and Parks from Penn State University 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 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 and Dylan Henry, Esq., and they have five grandchildren.

About the UDC

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 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.

The business office is located in Narrowsburg, NY. For more information, please visit www.upperdelawarecouncil.org or call (845) 252-3022.