Warren County backs effort to name Paulins Kill a National Wild and Scenic River

An ongoing initiative to recognize the Paulins Kill, a 41-mile tributary of the Delaware River, as a National Wild and Scenic River gained the support of Warren County, N.J., which is home to a 16-mile stretch of the Paulins.

The Warren County Board of Commissioners adopted a resolution supporting a local organization’s efforts to assess whether the river meets the criteria for the National Wild and Scenic River System designation, which would gain it federal recognition and protection.

Since 1968, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act has helped develop local management councils to protect rivers with notable properties in partnership with the National Park Service. These notable properties can range from biodiversity to recreational opportunities to geologic features.

The Warren County span of the river includes trout production waters, as well as historic and recreational features, like the Blairstown Historic District and Paulinskill Valley Trail. The Paulins Kill is also home to several species that are designated as threatened or of special concern in New Jersey, including two species of freshwater mussel.

Should the Paulins Kill be recognized, a local management council would be formed to create a management plan to protect it and receive an annual budget from the U.S. Department of Interior to carry it out. 

“Every participating municipality would have a representative on this management council,” said Tara Mezzanotte, Warren County’s liaison to the Lower Delaware Wild and Scenic River management council. “The council would be working together to advance the initiatives that they decide upon in the watershed management plan.”

The local management council would also be afforded technical help from the National Park Service to support the health of the river.

“Hopefully this National Wild and Scenic Project will bear fruit and we will have funding in the future for projects that we agree upon up and down the watershed to care for and protect our waters,” said Chris Dunbar, Paulins Kill watershed coordinator for the Foodshed Alliance.

The Foodshed Alliance, a New Jersey-based nonprofit committed to promoting sustainable farming and environmental protections, is investigating and cataloging the properties of the river that might make it eligible for the federal designation.

Based on its preliminary investigation, Dunbar believes the Paulins Kill is a reasonable candidate for National Wild and Scenic River status. 

“We’re currently in a reconnaissance phase, so what we’re doing is using the NJDEP’s Geographic Information System Interface,” Mezzanotte said. “We’re looking at each municipality’s segment of the mainstem river and their segment of the tributaries, and we’re pulling data from the NJDEP.”

Long path ahead

If the Paulins Kill is recognized, it will join the ranks of National Wild and Scenic Rivers in New Jersey, which include the Maurice and Musconetcong Rivers and the Lower Delaware.

The initiative to get the Paulins Kill federally recognized is supported by the Lower Delaware Wild and Scenic Management Council, as well as Warren County and the Foodshed Alliance.

The alliance hopes to have its information gathering stage of the plan, as well as an evaluation of public support from the other home county of the Paulins Kill, by next year.

“The hope is to have this phase, including finding out how Sussex County municipalities feel about this, complete going into 2026,” Mezzanotte said.

Though the Foodshed Alliance expects its evaluation of the Paulins Kill to be complete relatively soon, the road to obtaining federal recognition as a Wild and Scenic River is a long one.

With the data gathered from the alliance’s evaluation, it hopes to work with its partners to bring the project to the attention of New Jersey’s congressional representatives and push for a Paulins Kill Wild and Scenic River Study Bill.

Once complete, that formal study would determine whether the Paulins Kill qualifies to be part of the National Wild and Scenic River system. If the study determines that the river does qualify, a proposed Paulins Kill Wild and Scenic Rivers Act could be attached to a bill and become law.