MWA River Cleanups: Each year we sponsor River Cleanups that involve hundreds of scouts, students and MWA members. Over the past decade volunteers have removed more than 30 tons of trash from the Musconetcong River and adjacent parks, roadsides and river accesses.

Musconetcong Wild and Scenic River Study The MWA worked with the National Park Service, Heritage Conservancy and representatives from 17 municipalities to conduct the Wild and Scenic River Study.  This report is the first of its kind to describe natural and cultural resources along the entire length of the Musconetcong River.    MWA staff produced the Musconetcong Wild and Scenic Rivers Eligibility Report, and currently legislation is being drafted to include the Musconetcong River as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

Education and Outreach: MWA provides watershed education programs to watershed residents and local school students about the importance of watershed resources. MWA planned and organized a watershed conference "Getting Ready for Growth" which was attended by over 75 municipal officials and interested citizens on Dec. 9, 2000. Quarterly issues of the Musconetcong River News are published and distributed to MWA members, municipal officials, and general public. A Special Homeowner Edition of the River News was also produced and distributed to MWA members and hundreds of property owners within the lower Musconetcong. This edition described basic water pollution problems impacting the Musconetcong watershed, and presented river-friendly landscaping techniques for property owners. The Musconetcong Waterway Trail Guide, which was developed by MWA staff with assistance from Mohawk Canoe Club volunteers, is the first of its kind for New Jersey rivers. The Guide identifies river access points from Byram to Bloomsbury, and emphasizes the importance of boater safety and respect for private property.

Riparian Restoration MWA is also responsible for active riparian restoration efforts along the Musconetcong River and its tributaries. During the fall of 2001 MWA teamed with Rutgers Cooperative Extension, Hackettstown High School students and M&M Mars Inc. to plant a natural buffer along a 1000' stretch of Bowers Brook, a native-trout tributary to the Musconetcong River that flows through the M&M Mars Inc. facility in Hackettstown. This seminal project provides protection to the brook while serving as a demonstration of vegetative river buffers to the community and to other businesses. During the spring of 2003 MWA partnered with Rutgers Cooperative Extension to install a Riparian Buffer Demonstration Project on the Association's Asbury Mill property.

Musconetcong Greenbelt Initiative The Musconetcong River watershed has been and remains one of the state's highest priorities for preservation. Protecting and improving the water quality in the Musconetcong is a major goal of the initiative. In addition, MWA has identified and ranked the areas most vulnerable to development in a study funded by the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. This project took a more focused look at preservation needs based on a number of factors such as the level of vulnerability to development, riparian buffer health, and recreational potential. The degree of riparian protection given by local municipalities was also summarized (zoning and land development ordinances).

River Preservation and Restoration Project MWA is leading the effort to remove the badly deteriorated Gruendyke Mill dam that partially blocks the Musconetcong immediately upstream from the Rt. 46 bridge at the border of Hackettstown and Mt. Olive Township. The Gruendyke Mill dam is one of many obsolete dams blocking the river. The removal of this dam is the first step in a long-term effort to restore the river's natural flow, improve water quality and enhance fish migration. MWA¹s Gruendyke Mill dam project partners to date include Central Jersey Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, American Rivers, Princeton Hydro, the, New Jersey Builders Association, NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. MWA has obtained resolutions of support from Warren County Freeholders, Morris County Planning Department, the Town of Hackettstown, and the nonprofit and government agencies listed above. MWA is working with Rodger and Eileen Cornell, owners of the Gruendyke Mill dam and Pumphouse Restaurant in Mt. Olive Township to preserve through conservation easement a 1.25 parcel of land that is located across the river from the restaurant in Hackettstown. The easement will retire the development rights and provide a trail and river access right-of-way with linkage to the Hackettstown Community Park. Over the past 10 years, MWA has encouraged the land preservation efforts of the Green Acres Program, local municipalities and other nonprofits. This project marks the first time MWA has taken the lead in working with a landowner to preserve land.

Asbury Grist Mill Restoration   The MWA recently assumed ownership of the Asbury Gristmill and surrounding property from the Riddle family, founders of the Asbury Graphite Mills, Inc. The Mill is a key element of the Asbury Historic District, which is listed on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places. The Association plans to use the Asbury Mill property to establish a headquarters, including an office and meeting room. Other uses under consideration include environmental education and river recreational programs centered on the river corridor and developing interpretive displays of the region¹s river-related history. These uses are dependent upon the development of supporting infrastructure including parking, sewage, water, and river access. MWA¹s Asbury Mill Committee is responsible for implementing the restoration of the Asbury Mill, Storehouse building and surrounding landscape. MWA received a $52,000 Legislative Initiative Grant from the New Jersey State Legislature for architectural and engineering assessments and basic structural repairs. This funding source was the result of a Clean Air Act lawsuit settlement. The Trustees secured the services of nationally known millwright Walter Hollein of Long Valley NJ. The Mill is structurally quite sound, although major restorations are required to make the building useable. The Storehouse is a smaller building that needs to be completely renovated. Hollein began restoration work on the Mill and Storehouse during the spring of 2001. Progress within the past year has consisted of removal of the dormer and fire escape, repair of the roof rafters and slate roof, flashing and capping of the chimney, and installation of bird screening on all the windows. On the Storehouse, the existing flat asphalt roof was removed, the outbuilding on the east end of the building was demolished and masonry repair of the entire block and stone building was completed last fall. This work included the creation of new door and window openings, the installation of concrete lintels over these openings and the repair of all major cracks in the masonry walls.

Lower Musconetcong Valley Use Plan: MWA worked with the Heritage Conservancy - a regional nonprofit based in Doylestown PA- to produce the Lower Musconetcong Valley Use Plan. The plan describes how the Asbury Mill property will serve as an anchor for educational and recreational programs along the river corridor from Shurts Road Bridge to Wolverton Road Bridge. Recommendations are provided for the establishment of trails, canoe access, riparian restoration projects and teaching sites along the river. The Use Plan will guide MWA¹s efforts to develop a sustainable approach to land use along other stretches of the Musconetcong River.

Bowers Brook Restoration: MWA teamed up with Rutgers Cooperative Extension Service, Hackettstown High School students and M&M Mars Inc. to complete one of the more remarkable stream restoration projects ever undertaken in New Jersey. Under the direction of Anthony Pasquini, a Rutgers Forestry Specialist, dozens of students planted a natural buffer along Bowers Brook, a small trout stream tributary to the Musconetcong River, that flows through the M&M Mars Inc. facility in Hackettstown. Over 800 plants including 55 different species were used to restore a long stretch of the stream back to nature. The project site is visible to thousands of motorists who travel busy Route 517 every day giving the project enormous educational value. Converting a well-manicured lawn into a natural buffer sets an excellent model for other businesses and property owners who might be in a position to plant native vegetation along the stream or wetland. Students from Hackettstown High School and Rutgers University as well as members of the Musconetcong Watershed Association, and M&M Mars employees pitched in with the massive planting project, which took place over a period of several weeks. The project was funded through a federal nonpoint-pollution control grant administered by North Jersey Resource and Conservation Development.

Musconetcong Greenbelt Initiative: The Musconetcong River watershed has been and remains one of the state¹s highest priorities for preservation. In keeping with the "string of pearls" concept associated with greenways, MWA, Green Acres, the DEP's divisions of Parks and Forestry and Fish and Wildlife, and the counties of Hunterdon, Morris, Sussex, and Warren have identified a number of sites along the Musconetcong River for acquisition and/or conservation easements. Protecting and improving the water quality in the Musconetcong is a major goal of the initiative. In 2001 MWA received a grant from the New Jersey Conservation Foundation to identify areas of special concern for preservation and/or riparian restoration along the Musconetcong River. This project took a more focused look at preservation needs based on a number of factors such as the level of vulnerability to development, riparian buffer health, and recreational potential. The degree of riparian protection given by local municipalities was also summarized (zoning and land development ordinances). The municipalities covered by the project were the Town of Hackettstown, Washington Township (Warren Co.), Mansfield Township, Franklin Township, Greenwich Township, Washington Township (Morris Co.), and Lebanon Township. Bethlehem Township, which encompasses a sizeable portion of this stretch of the river valley in Hunterdon County, was not included because most of the township¹s river corridor has already been preserved. The Musconetcong Greenbelt Initiative report identifies several opportunities for riparian restoration and land preservation along the Musconetcong River.