Delaware River Stories: An interview with Don Baugh, President and Founder, Upstream Alliance
Faces of Rivers: A profile series from American Rivers
American Rivers: What is the Search for the Cooper River and what did it entail?
Don Baugh: The Search for the Cooper River was an expedition in June 2022 led by Camden County and Upstream Alliance. Fifteen people, including four students from Camden, along with a photographer and film crew, aimed to discover the path of the Cooper River and its source. The Cooper River is a valuable natural resource in our backyard, located in a highly developed state. The 16-mile Cooper River began as the lifeblood for the Lenape, and then later played a similar role for early settlers. It’s important to the area’s history and environment — and we wanted to know what happens to the river above the turnpike.
The search began in kayaks at the mouth of the river, and we ended up kayaking for two days and traveling by foot for four days. We traveled several miles a day on the river and camped in tents nearby. The search was not all easy-going. The narrower the Cooper River gets, the harder it is to navigate. The final leg of the trip was over land, where we came to a big natural area obscured by densely populated neighborhoods. There was a sense that the Cooper lost its sense of place as a waterway.
Brambles, branches, and vines were present, so we had to use machetes to bushwhack our way through. After six days, we did find the actual source of the Cooper: a small pond with a little trickle coming from underground. It was located close to where the towns of Lindenwold and Gibbsboro meet. We felt like we’d discovered a hidden gem. It was mind-blowing for everybody.
The water was crystal clear — clean like tap water and we drank some. We saw bluegills that had made nests at the bottom of the water to protect their eggs, and bass circled around, too. It’s downstream where the Cooper River becomes a polluted, altered, and degraded watershed. We end up with combined sewer overflows and point source pollution at the bottom of the river.
AR: What did the young people gain from being involved in the Search for the Cooper River?
DB: It was life-changing for all of them. It altered their understanding of the resource located in their backyard. One of the students said she had only known a stretch of the river near her home in North Camden and that she was surprised by the variety of nature seen along the river, like foxes, beaver, and bald eagles. Another student said he now thinks the river should be treated with more respect after seeing how it’s been impacted by pollution from things like sewage treatment plants and runoff.
The Search for the Cooper River was an opportunity for young people to learn about the river and therefore to use it more, and to tell friends and family, too. The search brought a great sense of adventure and sense of accomplishment for the students — surpassing what they thought they could do. Students’ confidence also grew. In the film being made about the search, the students are the mouthpiece through which the story is told, there is no narrator — so them learning to communicate their experience was significant.
The search was all about opening up the river, and showing that it can have recreational value for all, including environmental justice communities in historically impoverished cities like Camden, New Jersey. We hope is that the Cooper River becomes accessible for all those in Camden County, and that it enriches their lives.
The Cooper River was once made up of as much as forty percent raw sewage before clean water laws were put in place. Because of the Clean Water Act and other efforts, many of our urban rivers have improved and life has returned. But there is still a cultural mindset of being sewers and backwaters, and areas that are not fit for humans. In reality, people don’t have to go up to the Poconos or down the Jersey Shore to get beautiful recreational opportunities.
AR: What else did you learn from the Search for the Cooper River?
DB: Partners are essential in making change happen. For example, the Director of the County Parks System in Camden County, Maggie McCann, has been a huge champion of the search and of increasing river access. We’re trying to change a culture here, and not just one organization can do that. We all must bond together to do that.
We’re grateful to Camden County Parks Department, Academy of Natural Sciences, Independence Seaport Museum, New Jersey Natural Lands Trust, VideoTakes & Dave Harp, Urban Promise River Guides, CCMUA, New Jersey Conservation Foundation, Environment New Jersey, American Littoral Society, American Rivers, Haddonfield Water Trail Association, and the Nature Conservancy.
AR: What’s next for the Cooper River?
DB: The story of the Search for the Cooper River is going to get shared far and wide. We had a videographer present on the trip who is making a documentary film about it called “The Search for the Cooper”. The film will debut in September 2022 at the Avalon Theater in Cape May before making its Camden County debut in October. The film is an important educational opportunity because we are taking it to schools in the ten municipal jurisdictions through which the Cooper River runs. New Jersey public television will also show the film in April 2023. The photographer who came with us, Anand Varma, is a wildlife photographer who shoots for National Geographic and he is creating an exhibit that will travel throughout South Jersey to educate the public.
Raising awareness of the river is key. People don’t realize that Lindenwold Park holds one of the most beautiful parts of the river. It’s a euphoric area where you can walk along the 2-foot wide, cold stream amongst so much nature. And many people don’t know that there are three locations along the river where you can put in a kayak and have a fun day paddling.
We see the Search for the Cooper River as a model for other urban rivers. They are often hidden and not identified, and don’t have recreational opportunities. Often, like this river, urban rivers are valuable open space, but they are just not as accessible as they should be. About two-thirds of the Cooper River is public property, but not all of it is publicly accessible.
The trip was part of a campaign that has so far raised $500,000 in federal funds for the creation of a water trail along part of the river and $400,000 in Camden County money to design a community marina and three other new access point. We will also seek additional federal support to clean up a beach near the river’s mouth in north Camden.
We will continue to promote the concept of access and encourage people to use the Cooper River. This is just the beginning for the Cooper River, and I hope all of New Jersey’s urban rivers follow suit.
