In August 1955, Hurricane Connie and Diane killed almost 100 people who lived along Broadhead Creek and overflowed other rivers and banks in the Pocono region. Congress commissioned the Army Corps of Engineers to dust off a 1930s river basin study and determine whether a dam and reservoirs along the Delaware River and a main dam at the southern tip of Tocks Island will be a viable option. The proposed Tocks Island Dam would have created a lake-sized reservoir about 40 miles long and a mile wide. Before building it, over 600 families and property owners whose land would be displaced. The events occurring during this time period were Vietnam, Civil Rights, and Back to the Land – which was a grassroots organizations consisting of educators, citizens, scientists, and legislators created by the Environmental Movement. Delaware River Basin Commission was created in 1975 by four state Governors and one federally appointed Commissioner. They voted to shelve the Tocks Island Dam Project, and the land taken by the federal government was then put in the care of the National Park Services. The project would have been too expensive.

https://www.nps.gov/dewa/learn/historyculture/tocks-island-dam-controversy.htm