Peapack Brook Stream Bank Stabilization Project

The Peapack Brook, contained within the Upper Raritan Watershed, is a trout production stream that flows through Chester Borough, Chester Township, the Borough of Peapack-Gladstone, and Bedminster Township. This waterway has shown evidence of high nutrient levels and degraded aquatic habitat as it has been impacted by non-point source pollution stemming from commercial and residential run-off and exacerbated by a lack of streamside vegetation.  The stream corridor also suffers from scouring events and erosion. 

Stream bank erosion where Peapack Brook is channeled around

a gravel bar upstream of the bridge crossing at Old Dutch Road.

  In partnership with the Borough of Peapack-Gladstone, the Upper Raritan Watershed Association is currently planning a stream bank stabilization project on a portion of the Peapack Brook in Peapack, New Jersey.  With the assistance of Amy Greene Environmental Consultants, Inc., the Upper Raritan Watershed Association is designing a restoration project that involves constructing a live cribwall along a portion of eroded bank in Rockabye Meadow Park.  Cedar posts will be stacked in an interlocking fashion along the graded bank which will be further stabilized with the planting of tubelings or live stakes.  Additional plantings of trees will follow installation to further stabilize the soil and reestablish a vegetative buffer along Peapack Brook.  This project is just one component in an initiative to enhance and protect the water quality in Peapack Brook that has been funded through a NJDEP 319 grant titled “Design and Implementation of Non-Point Source Pollution Control Measures in the Peapack Brook Subwatershed”. 

Volunteers will be needed in early April to assist with the construction of the cribwall and subsequent plantings.  If interested, please contact Patricia Ruby at patti@urwa.org or 908-234-1852 x12 for more information.