Local landowner helping in the Mansfield area behind the former Cliffdale Inn

Here was the haul just from the Stephensburg Road area down to the former Cliffdale Inn property in Mansfield Twp.

Trash hauled from the river cooridor from Stephensburg Road to the Cliffdale Inn section

Volunteers from several New Jersey TU chapters were on hand from top to bottom of the watershed, helping to wade out into the river to haul off tires and other debris in celebration of an early Earth Day.

The second project used Urbani Fisheries from Bozeman, MT to remove large trees that fell into the channel following Hurricane Irene and tropical storm Lee last September, the highest and third highest ever recorded flows, respectively. These trees hung up on the recently removed lower two wood coffer remnant dams on the Riegelsville section of the river, only a half mile above the Delaware River which the Musky drains into. Typically, the presence of large, woody debris such as these trees is welcome addition to aquatic habitat, but several trees threatened to widen the channel and direct flows into a long closed hydro power flume and into a local farm field after hanging up on the new structures that were built after the dams were removed last August, 2011. Sections of the trees were chainsawed into manageable lengths while the large track machine removed them and placed them on the banks to help build back those banks in time as well as provide wildlife habitat. Some tree sections were left in the river channel to provide aquatic habitat while the two stone weirs that replaced the former wood coffer dams were tweaked as needed to prevent this occurrence in future floods.

Some of the large trees blocking the channel in Riegelsville

Here you can see some of the chain saw's efforts to cut trees into easier to handle sections

These two trees provided a channel block that formed during Hurricane Irene which threatened a local farmer's fields from cutting a new channel

Here’s some shots as the work was finished. Just last night, in fact, we got a heavy rain storm that brought the river up to near bank full and the newly deposited fine sediments on these restored point bars will have some native seeds mixed in to help green up those bars as the water recedes and summer approaches.

Many of the trees are now placed on the bank on river left to help rebuild that bank over time

And looking upstream at the finished product. Two of the three removed dams are in the lower photo with the third just out of view at the top of the river in the photo.

Rich Thomas, Central Jersey Chapter

Prior to taking on the State Council Chairman role, Rich was the NJ National Leadership Council (NLC) representative from 2007 to 2012. As NLC Rep., Rich worked closely with his fellow NLC Reps. from around the country to map TU’s mission in each member state. Also in this role, Rich chaired the Delaware Watershed Conservation Workshop which focused on improving the trout habitat within the watershed by insuring equitable flows from all reservoirs. This group worked closely with other workshops which focus on understanding and limiting the impacts of gas development within the Marcellus Shale region. Rich has past experience as Central chapter Vice President and President, Central Region V.P. and also with thermal studies, river clean-ups (Musconetcong River), introducing the Central NJ Boy Scout Council to fly fishing and river stocking.

State Council Vice Chairman

Glenn Tippy, Fred Burroughs/North Jersey Chapter

Glenn has served as State Council secretary for the past 6 years and has graciously agreed to continue his services as Council Vice Chair. In addition to his state council duties, he is past President of the Fred Burroughs/North Jersey Chapter. Glenn has been involved in local politics including serving as the mayor for his town and serving as president of his local school board of education.

Treasurer

Dennis McCarthy, Rahway River Chapter

Dennis is the current treasurer for the Rahway River Chapter. In this position, he has developed their first working budget and works closely with various committees to ensure best practices for all accounting purposes. In addition to managing funds for his chapter, Dennis manages extensive funds with great success within the business world. He is a welcomed asset to NJTU.

Secretary

Andy Brasko, Ray Neile Chapter

Andy is the current secretary for the Ray Neirle chapter and was eager to be more involved at the State Council level. When the opportunity came up to serve as Council Secretary, Andy quickly volunteered. Andy is an avid fly tier and is known within the industry for his wet fly creations. He also presents his craft at local chapters and participates in conservation projects.

Musconetcong Home Rivers Project Coordinator

Brian Cowden, Fred Burroughs/Northern NJ Chapter

Now a full time TU national employee under the Eastern Conservation staff, Brian currently serves as our Musconetcong Home Rivers Initiative Coordinator. Brian first joined the NJ state council as Vice Chair in January 2007 only to resign that position in January of 2008 to take on TU’s full-time position as the Musconetcong Home River Initiative Project Coordinator in February of 2008. This is TU national’s first paid staff position in New Jersey. Brian answers to Elizabeth Maclin, VP of Eastern Conservation. His previous TU volunteer experiences have been as chapter education chair, chapter vice president (a volunteer position he currently holds), state coordinator for our highly successful Trout in the Classroom program, as well as past state council vice chair. In an effort to fully focus on the Musky Home Rivers job, Brian recently transferred his TIC state coordinator role to Jessica Griglak at DEP Fish & Wildlife at the state’s Pequest Trout Hatchery.

National Leadership Council (NLC) Representative

Dave King, Fred Burroughs/North Jersey Chapter

Dave joined the NJTU ranks several years ago as a member of Fred Burroughs North Jersey Chapter.He quickly became involved and stepped up to the role of Chapter TIC coordinator. In the spring of 2008 he assumed the state-wide Trout in the Classroom liaison position, as part of NJ State Council, for this rapidly growing youth education program. He served as the North Jersey Chapter President from 2009 -2012 becoming heavily involved with fundraising and conservation initiatives leading to great success. As well as being involved with issues at the Chapter and State levels, Dave has attended several National meetings and has engaged with National Staff on many different topics. This interaction, proven leadership, and past experience has made him the perfect choice for the NLC Representative position.

Vice President of Resources

Agust Gudmundsson, Central Jersey Chapter

Agust is our most recent past Chair of state council (2000 – 2006) and proof that reaching our youth results in new TU members down the road. In 1975 in the 8th grade, Agust took a fly-fishing course with the North Jersey chapter and joined TU several years later. In the Central Jersey chapter, he has held numerous positions including Chapter VP and President. During Agust’s time at TU in various leadership roles, he has been instrumental in such areas as setting up Trout Conservation Areas (TCAs) at Point Mountain on the Musconetcong, and Ken Lockwood Gorge on the South Branch Raritan. In addition, Agust has testified numerous times in support of sound conservation practices for our rivers and watersheds, from support for C-1 classifications for trout production waters to support for the Highlands Act. He has served on the Liberty Twp. Environmental Committee. Agust has been and continues to be a major force for TU’s mission in New Jersey and beyond.

Central Regional Vice President

Bart Lombardo, Central Jersey Chapter

Bart is the current Chapter President of the Central Jersey Chapter. He has also served as Vice President and assumed the lead role in many of his Chapter’s functions. Bart has agreed to step up and provide leadership and guidance as the new Central Regional Vice President. In this role, he will coordinate the efforts amongst our centrally located chapters and create partnerships with respect to projects and programs.

Past Council Chairman

Rick Axt, Ken Lockwood Chapter

Rick served as NJTU Chair from 2007 to 2012 and led efforts to insure TU’s mission was advanced in NJ. During his tenure, two new Chapters were added, Rahway River and Ridge & Valley and he successfully re-charted the other 10 chapters. Rick also led the efforts to have all chapters create by-laws as required by a TU National initiative. Prior to taking over the state council Chair position in January 2007, Rick spent the past 6 years as vice chair and the past 11 years as state council Stream Restoration Workshop Director. Rick has held numerous positions within the Ken Lockwood TU chapter including past president, resource chair and program chair. In addition to his TU works he has also been involved with the NJ section of the American Water Resource Association, Central Jersey Director of Stream Restoration Committee Member and has served on the Flood Hazard Area Rules Subcommittee. Rick is now retired and living in NY on the East Branch of the Delaware doing what he loves to do most, chasing trout.

During channel restoration, the river is narrowed where needed using control structures, digging out of pools, addition of boulders and restored point bars to keep the river flowing and transporting sediment during low water periods. TU employed the state of the art services of Urbani Fisheries out of Bozeman, MT for their natural approach to channel restoration and bank stabilization methods. The Urbani team utilizes their own machine operator who only works on river restoration implementation, making their approach unique in the field.

Here are some photos of the work:

Channel bottom prior to restoration where sediment largely covers bottom cobbles.

Channel bottom following restoration where sediments have been flushed out, allowing for abundant insect life.

Here is a view of a typical section of this simplified channel where it was overly wide, shallow, sediment laden, and lacking fish habitat in the form of pools, riffles, or pocket water.

Simplified channel pre-restoration

Here is a section of the river recently restored. Here you’ll note restored point bars which narrow the channel, boulder clusters to provide habitat, as well as deeper pools to hold fish of all species.

Washington Twp. in Warren County

And one of our deeper pools to provide thermal refuge, dissolved oxygen, and fish holding structure. In this photo, the very first canoeists enjoyed paddling this restored stretch during construction.

Newly restored deep pool habitat

Stay tuned for additional photos in coming days of work performed upstream as well as more from the 7/10 mile stretch on two properties in lower Washington Twp. in Warren County near route 31.

SchoolBrochure12c

Here’s the application form:

Application2012b

The students have a wonderful time and here are some highlights from last year’s program with our conservation minded students:

CCS2011

We will be working from 9 am – around 1 pm, finishing earlier if we get lots of help. The address is: 12 Huff Lane off Valley Station Road which is off Asbury-West Portal Rd. (county road 643) in Asbury. Bring boots and work gloves and a strong back. See story on this site regarding the project which began earlier this fall.

Cows damage the stream banks by trampling on them as well as by eating all vegetation, allowing silt to run into the stream as well as eliminating shade to keep the river cool. Additionally, this stream tested very high for bovine fecal choliform during water quality tests. West Portal Brook is a native brook and wild brown trout stream that flows into the Musconetcong River.

In the spring of 2012, TU and other volunteers will complete the fencing on the opposite side of the stream and plant one final buffer in two smaller sections of former pasture land.

Downstream pasture now taken out of production to better protect this Musky tributary

Many thanks to this wonderful volunteer crew! This is their second fall out helping with a buffer planting on this very same stream. Last year these folks planted an additional 25 foot buffer to an existing 25 foot buffer on the Beatty Farm just next door along the Musconetcong River and an additional 3 acres in pine on West Portal Brook, also on the adjoining Beatty Farm (BSB Holsteins).