• StreamWatch
• Restoration & Reforestation
  • Millstone River Dam Removal Project
  • Calco Dam Removal
• GIS Center
• Characterization & Assessment

Restoration & Reforestation

Healthy, intact stream banks and forests provide important habitat for wildlife, reduce flooding and erosion, and contribute to a community’s open spaces and quality of life. To protect clean water and the environment, the Watershed Association organizes multiple volunteer projects to reforest stream corridors and restore eroded stream banks throughout the watershed.

Stream Restoration

Our stream bank restoration projects help control erosion and improve the health and quality of our water. Degraded stream banks, often caused by large volumes of water that run off poorly planned developments after storms, lead to erosion of precious soil and destruction of stream habitat.

In our restorations, we use native plants to hold onto the topsoil of stream banks and prevent it from flowing downstream. The native plants also act as a buffer to filter pollutants from water that runs off the land after storms. In addition, this vegetation provides habitat for aquatic animals, birds and insects, cover for fish and prevents Canada geese from entering the streams. Since 1997, we have restored more than 5,000 linear feet of eroded stream banks.

Fish and Stream Flow Restoration

With a recent grant from American Rivers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Restoration Center, the Watershed Association is launching a study to determine whether it’s possible to restore American shad and other migratory fish to the Millstone River. Our study will look into whether it’s feasible to remove two dams from the river – the Weston Causeway Dam and Blackwells Mills Dam – thereby opening up 14 river miles to migrating fish and recreational users between Lake Carnegie in Princeton and Manville near the confluence of the Millstone and Raritan rivers.

Through this incredibly exciting project we aim to restore the ecological integrity of the Millstone River, reestablishing the equilibrium between river flow and sediment flow while allowing the river to meander and naturally create habitat for fish and other aquatic species. In addition, recreational users like kayakers and canoers would enjoy improved safety with the elimination of the two dams, which today pose a severe impediment for river travelers. Visit News & Events for updates about this important project. Read more in the Summer 2009 issue of Wellspring

The Pike Run Habitat Enhancement and Restoration Project

In 2003, the Watershed Association received a Targeted Watersheds Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and launched an effort to restore a 1400-foot segment of Pike Run, a tributary to the Beden Brook in Montgomery Township. Located in an active part of Montgomery Park, this section of Pike Run had degraded severely due to upstream development, which redirected enormous amounts of stormwater directly into the stream. Extreme flooding and erosion greatly reduced the health of the stream and surrounding habitat.

The Watershed Association’s restoration of this ailing waterway included a wetland restoration, installation of an innovative log and boulder system in the stream itself to help create a more healthy meandering flow, and stream bank restoration with native plantings. Completed in 2007, we continue to monitor the health and status of the restored area. Learn more…

Our more detailed model Streambank Restoration: Mud, Sweat and Volunteers is available through our Watershed Institute.

Reforestation

We implement reforestation projects primarily to reduce flooding and provide wildlife habitat. The Watershed Association’s reforestation projects have covered more than 30 acres of land in central New Jersey with native trees. Trees clean the air, reduce flooding and provide habitat for foxes, birds and other wildlife. Some of our projects have involved reforestation of wetlands and uplands, which create much-needed buffers and filter strips between agricultural lands and adjacent waterways. In the 1950s and 1960s, watershed volunteers planted hundreds of thousands of trees to reforest farmland; in more recent years, more than 7,000 native trees have been planted.