Friends of the Upper Delaware River
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Dan Plummer, dan@fudr.org, 607-363-7848
Oct. 4, 2012/For Immediate Release
Gordon Flyfishers Name FUDR’s Plummer
Recipient of 2012 Conservation Award
ROSCOE, N.Y.—Theodore Gordon Flyfishers, one of the Catskills’ venerable angling clubs, has named Dan Plummer, chairman of Friends of the Upper Delaware River, as recipient of its 2012 Conservation Award Saturday.
Plummer, board chairman of FUDR since 2004, was cited for “tireless work on behalf of the Upper Delaware.” About 50 people attended the awards dinner on Saturday, Sept. 29, at the Rockland House in Roscoe.
Bert Darrow, president of the Gordon club, said Plummer’s commitment, persistence and winning personality have helped forged alliances among a wide and diverse group of conservationists that often had been at odds in the past.
“This could not have happened without Dan Plummer,” Darrow said. He said the coalition that is emerging has become a powerful voice on behalf of the river system.
Darrow’s group is a not-for-profit angling organization that promotes clean rivers and healthy trout populations through conservation, advocacy and education. Founded in Manhattan in the early 1960s, its members were early advocates of catch-and-release fishing. The club is named in honor of Theodore Gordon (1854-1915), a Catskills flyfishing pioneer.
Plummer’s group, Friends of the Upper Delaware River, is a non-profit based in the Hancock, N.Y., area that has become a leader in protecting and advocating on behalf of the water, the wildlife and the residents of the region.
Plummer credited FUDR’s 11-member board of directors for donating countless hours to the organization and its causes.
He said FUDR would continue to work as steward of the river against hydrofracking and in favor of consistent cold-water releases from the New York City-owned reservoirs, a crucial component in safeguarding the unique Upper Delaware ecosystem. He said cooperation between FUDR and like-minded organizations has led to a number of recent conservation successes as the groups have found increased influence as a broader coalition.
Plummer grew up in Elmira, N.Y., and was introduced to fishing and hunting by his mother and father, whom he describes as self-taught naturalists.
He has worked for ABC Sports, Ralph Lauren and as a builder. An avid flyfisherman and outdoorsman, he has owned a cabin on the East Branch of the Delaware River since 1990. Plummer and his wife, Shari Sant Plummer, also own a farm near New Kingston, above the Pepacton Reservoir.
“There’s not a more beautiful place on earth,” he said. “We are committed to trying to keep it that way.”
Plummer also serves on the board of the Summit Foundation, the Code Blue Foundation and the Wild Salmon Center.
His wife is an environmental philanthropist and ocean activist. Sant Plummer is involved with a number of environmental organizations, including Code Blue, Summit, the Sylvia Earle Alliance, Seacology, the International League of Conservation Photographers, the Blue Ocean Film Festival and the World Wildlife Fund.
“Between the two of us, we try to help to keep a watchful eye on the 75 percent of the planet that's wet,” Plummer said.
