NORTHAMPTON — Boaters on the Connecticut River between the Coolidge Bridge and the Holyoke Dam have for decades depended on channel markers and buoys as navigational aids while traveling along the waterway, protecting them from dangers, like rocks lurking below the surface, as well as alerting them to no-wake areas where they must move at slower speeds.

With insufficient funding to continue the program led by the city of Northampton, whose officials work with other river communities including Hadley, South Hadley, Easthampton and Holyoke, and a missed deadline for state legislation that would have provided the necessary money, the channel markers are not part of the river this summer for the first time since they were placed south of Hatfield in 1985.

“Absolutely this will affect safety,” says Bill Heyn, a captain licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard and owner of Pioneer Valley Marine Services, which for six years has done the work of installing the buoys and barrels. “The majority of people out there don’t have any idea about the river, so it’s important to have the channel markers as a road map for the river.”

Heyn said putting the channel markers in place can be labor intensive and requires knowledge, including understanding the depths of the water and where the right passage is when anchoring the buoys and barrels.

Northampton has long coordinated placing the advertisements for vendors and seeking contracts that are paid using a portion of a boat excise tax from the participating communities, coupled with a fixed-rate payment from Holyoke Gas & Electric, as required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Sarah I. LaValley, assistant director for the Northampton Office of Planning and Sustainability who has sought bidders for the work, acknowledged that the ongoing funding challenges caused the program to be put off in 2025.

“It has unfortunately become a financial reality that the channel marking program in its current municipally administered format is no longer fiscally sustainable, and a contract was not able to be signed for placement of markers for the 2025 season,” LaValley said. “All communities involved have been aware of the challenges that have compounded over the past few years leading up to this point, and have been involved in myriad efforts to find a sustainable solution.”

Previously, three-year contracts for placing, storing, maintaining and replacing the markers would run from $40,000 to $50,000. But in late 2022, when Northampton sought a bid for five years that would have run through 2028, the cost was $279,000. This was rejected due to the annual cost for each community being well in excess of $50,000.

In 2023, Heyn’s company did the installation work, a year when 32 of 51 of the markers were damaged, which was considered a one-year stop-gap measure or band-aid. Heyn, though, was also able to get the 54 markers in place last year.

One of the myriad efforts LaValley mentions was legislation that would have allowed the program to be taken over by the state, with a new fee structure established to fund the marker placement, along with resources to begin to fund replacement of storm-damaged markers, after just 17 were still in the fleet.

State Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, said she and her team have been working with the city of Northampton, the Connecticut River Channel Marker Committee and others involved for two years to find a solution, noting that she got close to a resolution in December before having to restart that legislation.

Under that original plan, the state would handle the requests for proposals, as well as create a fund for the markers. That is now included in the governor’s environmental bond bill and Sabadosa is hoping that it will move quickly.

“Once passed, the bill will take pressure off Northampton, in particular, and have the state handle procurement for the marker placement each year,” Sabadosa said. “It will also offer more funding flexibility.”

This will create a non-budgeted special revenue fund that will be managed by the Massachusetts Environmental Police, who will be responsible for placing the markers.

But because the legislation was not finished in time for this summer, Sabadosa said both environmental police and those who operate the marinas along the stretch of the river are doing what they can to make those using the river aware that the markers are not in place, and that more care has to be used when boating.

“It is my hope that the environmental police and the marinas will work together to ensure the utmost safety along the river and inform boaters of this temporary change,” Sabadosa said.

For two of the marinas, Sportsman’s Marina in Hadley and Brunelle’s Marina in South Hadley, Heyn has made no-wake zones near both and appreciates that they were willing to privately fund the work. “I’m happy to do it, I’ve always been ready to go,” Heyn said.

Gary Pelissier, who owns Sportsman’s Marina, said he paid $1,000 to place four no-wake buoys, appreciating the need for safety for both the boaters who dock at his site and the several rowing clubs that launch boats from near the Coolidge Bridge, and others who will put their boats in the water from the Elwell Recreation Area in Northampton.

He also sees the channel markers as helping with enforcement.

“Channel markers help navigation, but also help environmental police issue tickets. It will help them with enforcement,” Pelisier said.

Heyn said other agencies, such as the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office, understand the dangers on the river, especially when they have to rescue people or search for those missing in the water.

In the end, he said that the state legislation will involve a small amount of money that is one element of keeping people safe on the water.

“Ultimately boating safety is up to the operator,” Heyn said. “It’s important for boaters to operator safely and make sure to slow down if you don’t know what’s ahead.”

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.