River Designation celebrated: On June 1, Congresswoman Pingree joined the York River Study Committee, York River watershed community members, National Park Service representatives, Friends of the York River, town officials, and others to celebrate designation of the York River into the national Wild and Scenic Rivers Program. Representatives for Senator King and Senator Collins joined the Congresswoman in making remarks at the celebratory event. READ THE PRESS RELEASE

Stewardship Committee appointed: As of mid-May, all four watershed towns have appointed members to the York River Stewardship Committee. See the list of town-appointed Stewardship Committee members and officers. 

 

What’s next? (early 2023): Now that the river is designated, read about next steps and plans to form the York River Wild and Scenic Stewardship Committee: Stewardship Committee-background and next steps & Stewardship Committee-description and responsibilities. 

 

Designation accomplished! (December 2022): Congress authorized designation of York River into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System on December 23, 2022. The designation authorization was included in the omnibus government spending bill that was passed by Congress and signed by President Biden on December 29, 2022 (Public Law No. 117-328). READ THE PRESS RELEASE

 

Information about York River & Partnership Wild and Scenic River designation:

• Learn about climate resiliency and adaptation measures: York River and Climate Change poster
• York River is one of 228 rivers designated into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System (and just one of 18 Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers). Learn more about Wild and Scenic rivers on rivers.gov.
• Read more about what makes York River special: Poster on York River’s outstanding resources
• The York River Watershed Stewardship Plan was the culmination of over 30 months of work by the York River Study Committee to gather information about the York River and its watershed. An accompanying “Story Map” – or online tour – provides highlights, maps and data from the Stewardship Plan.
• See the York River Study Committee’s Designation Recommendation Overview. All four watershed communities endorsed river designation and the Stewardship Plan in late 2018.

Towns that are part of the 33 square mile York River watershed	Dams (or remnants of past dams) in the watershed, including historic dams originally built to harness the river’s power for saw and grist mills	Species of fish found in tidal habitats during a 2001 study of the York River
Miles of streams and rivers in the York River watershed	Acres of salt marsh in the York River estuary that capture and store carbon and provide valuable habitat for many species	The year the first dam was built in the watershed