Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association
Pike Run Habitat Enhancement and Restoration Project
Montgomery Township, Somerset County, New Jersey
June 2007 Summary

Through grants from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and the William Penn Foundation, Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association is conducting the largest restoration in our history along a 1400-foot segment of Pike Run, a tributary to the Beden Brook. The site is located in Montgomery Park off Harlingen Road, which is owned and maintained by Montgomery Township. This municipal park is very actively used, providing passive and active recreation opportunities for area residents and includes open space, athletic fields, hiking paths, woods, and picnic areas. This reach of Pike Run has degraded due to ever-increasing upstream development, resulting in the redirection of enormous amounts of stormwater runoff directly to the stream. As a result, there are very flashy flows during and after rainstorms, which have eroded the stream bottom down to bedrock in much of the reach, incised the stream channel approximately three to five feet below the top of bank, widened and straightened the stream, eliminated the typical riffle-pool habitats, and disconnected the stream from its floodplain.

The Association hired TRC Omni to design a stream restoration project that would improve instream habitat, ease stormflow pressure, stabilize stream banks, and restore habitat in this very visible stream reach. Partnering with Montgomery Township (the Township) and NJDEP's Division of Watershed Management, the Association received permit approval in February 2007. The project is being implemented in three phases: restoration of a wetland meadow, installation of instream structures, and stabilization of stream banks.

Phase 1 occurred in May 2007 when volunteers helped plant nearly 2800 native riparian and wetland species of shrubs and herbaceous plugs in a 1.27-acre wetland meadow adjacent to Pike Run. The area had previously been maintained by mowing to the stream edge, but was rarely used recreationally because of its wet nature. An initial challenge was to identify a method by which the wetland could be tilled successfully in preparation for planting without destroying the soil structure and without having the equipment get stuck in the mud. Using a skidsteer with a tiller attachment that had wide rubber tracks making it a light low-ground pressure machine solved the problem. The Township Parks Department installed a 7-foot deer fence around the tilled area to protect plants, giving them a greater chance of survival. Over 130 volunteers and staff planted shrubs and plugs, seeded, and mulched during a three-day period while Clem Fiori of the Montgomery Township Open Space Committee supplied a crucial water truck to more easily water the newly planted plants. Since geese were very curious during the planting stage, geese fencing was installed shortly thereafter, consisting of a network of stakes with sisal twine strung between them in a spider web fashion. This fencing will be removed once the herbaceous plugs are established. Throughout the first summer, until the plants are established, the Township Public Works Department is partnering with the Fire Company to water them as needed using fire hoses from the stream. The successful partnership with Montgomery Township has been crucial to the success of this project. Once established this wetland meadow will increase stormwater infiltration, relieving some stormwater pressure in the stream and recharging groundwater, filter out pollutants such as suspended sediments and nutrients from the stormwater that does flow into the stream resulting in cleaner stormwater inputs, provide native habitat for wildlife, and deter geese.

The Association will monitor the success of the project in several ways. In the wetland meadow restoration area, volunteers and staff will visually monitor the plant viability over four or more years. Using forms created specifically for this project, monitors will note percent survival rate, problem areas, successful areas, and potential sources of problems or success. In addition they will take photographs and report areas that need immediate or longer-term repair/replacement. Volunteers and staff will also separately commit to regularly weed the area and control invasive species.

The Association wants to acknowledge all those who have contributed significantly to this portion of the project and made it a success:

Plus:
Jeremiah Bergstrom, TRC
Guy Keon, Benners Gardens
New Moon Nursery
Pinelands Nursery and Supply

And most importantly, all of the volunteers who came out to help plant and mulch.