Protecting Category 1 Rivers and Streams in NJ

New Jersey uses a tiered system to classify waterways with the highest tier being streams designated as “Outstanding Natural Resource Waters.” This allows them to be set aside in their natural state for posterity. Now, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection plans to designate about 750 additional miles of NJ's rivers and streams as “Category 1.” This designation will afford them stronger protections.

We already have about 6,800 miles of our state's waterways designated as Category 1. That means they are protected for their exceptional values ecologically, as a water supply, for recreation, and/or as fisheries For newly designated waterways, it means that they will be protected from development by 300-foot buffers, and any wastewater and discharges would have to meet more stringent standards so that “no measurable change” in water quality occurs.

This upgrade of waterways will be the first major one in more than a decade. Protecting waterways is far better - and less expensive - than cleaning up polluted ones.

“Category One waterways provide drinking water and sustain important fish and aquatic resources,’’ said Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Catherine McCabe, noting that the Category 1 designations also help protect important wildlife habitats.

Looking northwest from Ramapo Lake Dam on the Hoeferlin Trail, Ramapo Mountain State Forest, NJ - Wikimedia

New Jersey is a water-rich state being surrounded by water on three sides, and having thousands of waterways acting as veins and arteries across the state. Many smaller headwaters streams connect to our major rivers and that water eventually flows into the Atlantic Ocean, Delaware River, Delaware Bay, Hudson River or New York Bay.

A good example of the connected nature of our waterways is the Ramapo River which gets its start at Round Lake in the Village of Monroe, New York. It flows southeast through the village and was dammed there in 1741 for a sawmill and grist mill. It then goes on to Harriman where the Nepera Chemical Plant was built. Though it has been dismantled, a Superfund site has been designated at the plant's location where barrels of toxic chemicals were buried. From Harriman, the river turns south through Ramapo, New York and then enters northern Bergen County, NJ.

In NJ, it follows the east side of the ridge of the Ramapo Mountains and into Potash Lake in Oakland and then into Pompton Lake in Pompton Lakes. The water that flows out of Pompton Lake forms the border between Pompton Lakes and Wayne. At its confluence with the Pequannock River between Pequannock and Wayne, it forms the Pompton River. Some of that water is diverted to the Wanaque Reservoir and the rest flows into the Passaic River, which flows into Newark Bay and, from there, New York Bay and then into the Atlantic Ocean.

Map of the Passaic/Hackensack watershed - Wikimedia

The NJ Department of Environmental Protection also proposes to reclassify waterways based upon fish sampling data, recognizing 24 stream segments as Exceptional Fisheries Resources, or “trout production” waterways. These waterways, located mostly in the New Jersey Highlands region, were found to have naturally reproducing trout. Trout that reproduce naturally are an excellent natural indicator of clean and healthy water, and that is important as the Highlands region supplies over two-thirds of the state with drinking water.

To see an interactive map of waterways proposed for reclassification, go to nj.gov/dep/workgroups/docs/2019c1_proposal/2019c1upgrade.html. Here are a few newly designated waterways:

• Cooper River in the city of Camden, which flows into the Delaware River
• Upper sections of the Maurice River in Cumberland County and also
• many of its tributaries (Menantico Creek, Blackwater Branch and Little Robin Branch)
• Much of the South Branch of the Raritan River in Hunterdon and Somerset counties, including tributaries like the Neshanic River, the Rock Brook and Prescott Brook.
• Much of the Lamington River and its tributaries, which flow into the North Branch of the Raritan River;
• Many waterways flowing into the upper Delaware River, including the Pequest River, Paulins Kill River, and the Lubbers Run, a Musconetcong River tributary;
• Sections of the Salem River and its tributaries, including Oldmans Creek and Raccoon Creek. (The Salem River flows into the lower Delaware River)
• The Fishing Creek in Cape May County, which flows into the Delaware Bay.

Source: Press Release state.nj.us/dep/newsrel/2019/19_0013.htm