A grassroots effort is underway to include the Paulinskill River, which flows 42 miles through Sussex and Warren counties, on the list of federally designated Wild and Scenic waterways.
Already, three Warren County towns have approved resolutions endorsing a formal study of the Delaware River tributary and its adjacent resources. The study is part of a process set up by federal law that would also include funding for the review.
A designation by Congress would make the river, also known as the Paulins Kill, one of about 230 in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system, a selection of waterways prized for their beauty or their recreational or natural significance.
According to the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Council, a designation does not give the U.S. government any additional rights. Nor does it affect local land-use or zoning rules. But the status does bring recognition to a waterway as well as access to funding to protect and improve water quality.
The sun sets on Lafayette Memorial Park as the Paulins Kill turns to flow north on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. A grassroots effort is underway to win National Wild and Scenic River designation for the tributary in Sussex and Warren counties.
“Less than half of 1% of the rivers in the U.S. qualify to be designated as Wild and Scenic,” said Tara Mezzanotte, a Knowlton resident who is promoting the effort. “Beyond being a tremendous source of local pride, residents benefit directly because the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act allocates annual federal funds to enhance the qualities we cherish most about the Paulins Kill, including outstanding water quality, scenic beauty, fishing, hiking, and wildlife habitats.”
Such designations have been shown to promote economic development, tourism and recreational use, according to the federal council. Based on what it called limited studies, property values remain stable or increase along designated rivers.
Several sections of the Delaware have also been designated as part of the national system, including the Musconetcong, which has headwaters in southeastern Sussex County.
Take a trip down the Paulinskill
The Paulinskill is considered the third-largest New Jersey tributary feeding into the main stem of the Delaware, although the Maurice River, listed as its second-largest, flows into Delaware Bay.
The Paulinskill has its headwaters in Fredon, then flows north through Newton and into the Hyper Humus wetlands before reforming and heading through Lafayette. In Hampton, the river becomes Paulinskill Lake because of a dam built to create the lakeside community.
Below the dam, the tributary flows through Stillwater, then enters Warren County. It ends at the Delaware River just south of the hamlet of Columbia near Exit 4 of Interstate 80.
The municipalities of Blairstown, Hardwick and Knowlton in Warren County have already approved resolutions calling for research that could lead to a designation, said Mezzanotte, who has been joined by the Foodshed Alliance, a Hope-based nonprofit, in promoting the effort.
Under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, signed into law in 1968 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, designated waterways must possess at least one “outstandingly remarkable value” in one of eight categories: scenic, recreational, geologic, fish, wildlife, historic, cultural, or “other.”
A local congressmember must secure funding for a study in the federal budget. Mezzanotte is trying to demonstrate support for such a review by working her way upstream on the Paulinskill. In addition to the three Warren towns, she said she is close to securing formal support from Warren County officials and will soon be approaching Sussex County municipalities along the river, as well as the Sussex County Board of Commissioners.
The Act requires Wild and Scenic designated waterways to be “free-flowing.” So, among other topics, the study would look at what effect the Paulinkill Dam may have on classification of the river further upstream, Mezzanotte said. While the barrier is classified as a dam, water normally flows over the concrete structure year-round.
She noted that a designation of the river does not change or affect existing land-use nor would it affect current zoning, which would also be looked at by the study.
The federal law breaks designated rivers into three categories: wild, scenic or recreational.
The Paulinskill does not meet the “wild” classification which denotes a river or section of one “free of impoundments and generally inaccessible except by trail” and whose water is unpolluted and shorelines essentially primitive.
“Scenic” rivers are also free of impoundments “with shorelines or watersheds still largely primitive and shorelines undeveloped, but accessible in places by roads.” “Recreational” rivers are readily accessible by road or railroad, may have some development and may have undergone some impoundment or diversion in the past.
More: Paulina Dam in North Jersey gets notched to free up more of Paulins Kill river
History of the Paulins Kill
The river has been known as the Paulinskill since early European settlers came to the area. In the Dutch language, “kill” is the word for “stream” or “river,” and a popular legend is that the waterway was named after a woman or young girl by the name of Pauline.
Maps dating to the early 1700s, however, label the river as Paulinskill, so it is possible another theory could be correct: That story has it that the Native American name given to the mountain west of the river, “Pahaqualong,” may have been anglicized into a spelling such as “Paulins” by early white settlers or surveyors.
The river is known for its trout fishing, with the state’s Division of Fish and Wildlife stocking it throughout the year. Several roads cross the Paulinskill, with river access at those bridges, and in several areas, there are highway pull-offs near the stream which provide access.
Over the past decade, two dams on the river were removed to restore its “free-flowing” nature. The Columbia Dam, located near the Delaware River, was the first and within the following year, fish such as shad and eels were already swimming upstream to spawn.
Last year, the Paulina Dam just north of Blairstown, was removed, clearing the path for spawning fish to make it all the way into Sussex County.
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This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: NJ advocates seek ‘wild and scenic’ status for Paulins Kill river