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Lopatcong Creek Cleanup by RVTU members

The Ridge & Valley chapter has focused on the Lopatcong Creek as its home water.  The "Lopat" as it is locally known is one of New Jersey's very few pure limestone spring creek.  As such, it has an abundant native brook trout population in its headwaters and increasing numbers of wild browns in its lower reaches.  The Lopatcong flows from Montana Mountain southwest to the Delaware River in the town/city of Phillipsburg.  The stream suffers from golf courses that have denuded their banks of vegetation, farming too closely to the banks, excessive roads and homes built in the watershed, and a lack of knowledge in communities like Phillipsburg about the resources the Lopat brings to the community in Warren County.  RVTU also focuses attention on all Warren, lower Sussex and northern Hunterdon trout streams where our members live.  Some of those include the Musconetcong River, a federal Wild & Scenic River over more than half its length, the Pohatcong Creek, the Pequest River, the lower Paulins Kill River, and others including numerous wild trout streams, many teeming with native brook trout.