Warren Glen and Hughesville dams (in and below the Musky Gorge, respectively)

Musky valley

Saxton Falls quarry on the upper river

Brook trout spawning tributary in need of a riparian buffer

Bloomsbury dam on lower river

It has been nearly 8 years in the “unmaking” as Agust Gudmundsson, past state council chair, would tell you, and now finally the day has come. On Tuesday March 11th at approximately 8 am, a track hoe driven by a skilled operator entered the Musconetcong River to begin notching the dam ahead of a summer 2008 removal. In short order, the dam’s flume or sluiceway as some call it was fully breached, allowing the river to flow more freely in an effort to de-water the pond formed by the dam upstream. It is hoped that this initial breach will significantly lower the pond in the coming days and weeks, flushing at least some of the sediment that has built up since Colonial days at this long shuttered grist mill site.

State regulations prohibit work in the river from March 15 - June 15 for the primary trout fishing season, so it was decided that it was best to notch the dam significantly ahead of the summer removal and subsequent restoration efforts for this, the first of many dams to be removed on the “Musky”. Site of TU’s newly announced Home Rivers Initiative, a first for the state of New Jersey, the Musky may someday once again flow freely. This dam has been under the ownership of the Cornell family, proprietors of the Pump House Restaurant along the banks of the river just below the dam. The Cornells have patiently waited almost 8 years for this day, having had the vision to see their section of this beautiful river free flow ing once again.

Attending the event on Tuesday were many of the partners who have come together to see this dam and many others get removed in coming months and years. Amongst them were the Musconetcong Watershed Association, who took lead on this removal, Trout Unlimited volunteers as well as the newly hired Musconetcong Home Rivers Project Coordinator, NJTU’s own Brian Cowden. In addition, members of the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service which is an arm of the USDA) were in attendance. The NRCS is a critical federal agency working closely with the North Jersey Resource & Development Council (NJRC&D) and with the various partners to bring much needed funding to the numerous restoration efforts underway on the Musky and throughout its watershed.

After the June 15th date arrives and the water levels cooperate, the full removal of the Gruendyke Mill Dam will be completed as will the removal of a smaller dam, the Seber Dam, a short distance upstream. Stone weirs will be built at the current dam site along with a second built a few hundred yards upstream to restore the river’s natural drop in elevation and to provide additional fish habitat in what is currently a lifeless pond, largely devoid of trout and other native fish and aquatic species. Riparian plantings will follow this dam removal and weir building, eliminating the exotic non-native plants that have invasively taken over in the silted-in pond and restoring the upstream ecosystem.  In the short time it took to notch the Grunedyke dam, water levels in the upstream pond dropped about 18 inches.

Help our principal partner in the newly announced TU Home Rivers Initiative, the Musconetcong Watershed Association, with their annual river clean-up day. Contact the MWA directly or TU’s own Musconetcong Home Rivers Initiative Project Coordinator, Brian Cowden (bcowden@njtu.org) to join us on April 19th from 9 a.m. until noon. This will be a wonderful way to show our support for the WMA, clean up the river corridor and kick-off our Home Rivers Initiative!  We are looking for volunteers from all 9 chapters, including our newest chapter, the Rahway River Chapter in Cranford, NJ.

For the Star-Ledger

If you see Brian Cowden pinching himself, don’t be alarmed. He’s just making sure he’s not dreaming.

After several decades as a corrugated box salesman, the avid angler and Trout Unlimited go-getter has landed the job of his dreams: The director of Trout Unlimited’s Musconetcong Home Waters project. It’s Trout Unlimited’s first full-time, paid position in New Jersey, and it has the Mount Olive trout-lover nearly levitating with excitement.

“I’m thrilled,” said Cowden. “I feel like I’m never going to go to work another day in my life.”

During the past several years, Cowden’s passion for conservation, his organizational skills and his relentless energy were demonstrated by his efforts with TU’s Trout-in-the-Classroom (TIC) program.

Cowden was almost solely responsible for a big increase in the number of New Jersey schools participating in Trout in the Classroom. TIC grew from one program in the Sparta Middle School to more than 55 today, earning Cowden the national TU’s first annual Youth Education Leadership award.

As leader of the Musconetcong Home Waters project, Cowden will be responsible for doing everything possible to restore the Musconetcong River and its watershed and protect it from degradation. He has stepped down from his unpaid position as vice-chairman of the state TU council.

“We are already in the process of forming a loose-knit coalition,” he said. “It’s going to be comprised of like-minded conservation organizations. Our principal partner is the Musconetcong Watershed Association (MWA).”

Additionally, Cowden plans on working closely with the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, American Rivers, Inc., county and local governments.

“It will be working with municipalities on stormwater management, smart growth along the river corridor, outreach and public education and possibly extending the river’s Wild and Scenic River designation,” said Cowden.

All of the above are important if the Musconetcong is to remain a great fishery, noted Cowden. He said TU picked the river to be its first Home Waters project in New Jersey because many miles remain relatively pristine, primarily from Changewater, in Warren County, downstream to the Delaware River.

High on Cowden’s “to-do” list is pressing for the removal of unnecessary impoundments on the river. He is heavily involved in the dam-removal project about to take place near Hackettstown, the breaching of the old Gruendyke Dam.

Getting rid of old dams will allow the river to run cooler, good news for any angler who cares about coldwater fishing.

“It’s going to improve flows and cool the river down, meaning much better trout fishing in the lower section of the river,” said Cowden. “From Changewater down, the river cools (due to infusion of groundwater), but we’re hoping to have an impact all the way upstream to Lake Musconetcong.”

First on his list of targeted dams is one that spans the river in Finesville.

As he and the MWA learned with the Gruendyke project, impoundment removal efforts are usually fraught with red-tape and other headache-inducing hassle. However, it will be a lot more fulfilling than selling cardboard.

“Last year, I said to myself, ‘Brian you’re 42. Are you going to wake up one day and be 62 and have nothing but regret about your professional life?’” he said. “When I heard about Home Waters, I knew this is what I wanted to do. It was my dream job as soon as I heard about it. I’m following my passion. For me it’s a natural extension of the volunteer work I was doing.”

Regularly scheduled state council meeting to be held at Rutgers/Cook College.

Beginning no early than February 1st, the Gruendyke Dam on the Musconetcong River will be partially breached. The initial work is to simply notch the dam at the “concrete flume” on the Mount Olive side to de-water the pond behind the dam. Because DEP has a moratorium on our working in the river from March 15 - June 15 for trout fishing activity, and because the high winter flows this year have not been conducive to our completing the project prior to March 15th, we will only notch the dam at this time. As soon after the June 15th date that we can get back in the river, we will complete the removal of the dam, the building of the (2) stone weirs, and the riparian plantings along the banks of what used to be the pond’s bottom.  We are expecting by June 15th to have the DEP permits in place to also remove the Seber Dam just a short distance upstream of the Gruendyke Mill Dam and will breach that at the same time.  This is a smaller project which will not require the building of stone weirs, just the breaking up and removal of concrete.  These are the first two of many dams to be breached on the Musky!

Regularly scheduled state council meeting at the Pequest Trout Hatchery.  Bring your rods and reels for fishing on the education pond afterwards.  There’s always a great woolly bugger hatch on the pond!

Regularly scheduled council meeting to be held at the Charles O. Hayford Hatchery in Hackettstown.  Address is 1 Hatchery Road, Hackettstown, NJ.  Follow through the gates, past the new and old hatchery buildings, over the stone bridges and follow to the end where the gray building is on the right.  This is the new office for Brian Cowden - TU’s Musconetcong Home River Initiative Project Coordinator.  Bring your 7 or 8 weights to fish the education pond for some of the big largemouth bass after the meeting or slip down to the Musky with your 4 weight!  We will move our meetings back to Rutgers after our July meeting at the Pequest Hatchery.

Read the Statement  (Requires free Adobe Reader.)