Musconetcong River, NJ

The Musconetcong River drains 158 square miles of rural New Jersey and is a major tributary of the Delaware River, the longest undammed river east of the Mississippi. According to state record, there are 34 regulated dams located along the length of the Musconetcong, portions of which are designated in the National Wild & Scenic Rivers program. Aside from the Lake Hopatcong and Lake Musconetcong dams, the majority of these dams are no longer being used for their original function and are not in compliance with current state dam safety regulations.

These dams are relics of the industrial age. European settlement profoundly altered the river and surrounding landscape. Subsistence agriculture took root in the lower Musconetcong valley at the beginning of the 18th century. The fertile limestone valley was rapidly cleared for croplands, and agricultural production gradually evolved into commercial grain and dairy farming. Villages sprang up around the many gristmills built along the Musconetcong River from Finesville to Hackettstown. With these mills came the numerous dams that block access to spawning habitat for migratory and resident fish.  Many of these dams also pose liability and maintenance challenges for their current owners.

American Rivers is working with the Musconetcong Watershed Association, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Natural Resource Conservation Service and others to remove several dams on this river as part of the Musconetcong River Restoration Project.

The Musconetcong River Restoration Project saw its first major victory in summer 2008 with the removal of the Gruendyke Dam. Momentum continues along this New Jersey jewel as project partners work to restore another stretch of the river through the removal of the Finesville Dam. This dam currently blocks the passage of American shad, blueback herring, alewife, American eel, and other species for almost three miles of the Musconetcong River (to the Hughesville Dam).

Project partners, led by the Musconetcong Watershed Association, are also currently working with an experienced engineering firm to study and design the Finesville Dam removal.  This removal will increase access to spawning habitat for these migratory species, improve water quality, and enhance the recreational value of this reach for canoeing and kayaking, given that substantial reaches of the Musconetcong are currently used for fishing, canoeing, and nature watching.

The Musconetcong Watershed Association also oversaw the February 2009 removal of the Seber Dam, owned by the Town of Hackettstown, and originally built to create a swimming hole.

Perhaps even more importantly, these restoration projects will increase awareness of dam removal as an option and provide the momentum to remove more non-functioning dams and, if necessary, provide fish passage structures on others. The next four blockages on this river system – the Hughesville, Warren Glen, Bloomsbury Graphite, Asbury Graphite dams – are no longer functioning as they were initially intended. There are also many more dams upstream that are no longer viable and out of compliance with NJDEP Dam Safety standards.

For more information, contact Laura Craig with American Rivers at (856) 786-9000.

• Musconetcong River Factsheet