Bye Bye KLG

[BlackLabel]

In these tough times where no one has any money including all levels of goverment how can we piss away money??? I know lets build a fucking road where we absolutely don't need one. Lets take the best trout river in the state and see how fast we can destroy it.

I fished the gorge this morning and the middle lot is now closed off and filled with construction equipment. The tree that was in the lower lot holding the "road closed 1 mile ahead sign" is now gone to make way for the road is my guess. While fishing a riffled area by the middle lot I got to listen to the lovely sounds of heavy equipment.

Oh well guess whats done is done and all we can do is hope I'm over reacting and it won't be so bad when its done.

[kyle]

what a shame, can't people just leave somethings the way they are? I've only fished there once but I fully understand where you're coming from.

Paved road= easy access= more people= more pressure, just hope it doesn't get as crowded as the Farmington gets.

I was up in riverton today and there were 2 spin fishermen fishing on the opposite side of the river as me and 2 other guys. Now we're in a pretty small hole so 5 people is kind of maxing out. So sure enough a spin fisherman and a flyfisherman get tangled and begin a shouting match accross the river about who was there first and blah blah blah. I don't go fishing to hear that, I ended up walking out and finding somewhere else to fish. I really hope the KLG doesn't get like that :-\

[Trout Junkie]

Nick this is from Gardenstatetrout.com from Rusty Spinner who works for TU, Figured I would save you 6 pages of reading people BS for the answer.




Re: Gorge Closed?

Postby Rusty Spinner on Thu Jun 25, 2009 11:03 am
Sorry I haven't been able to post sooner - just too busy at a river restoration workshop/project all week. I blew off this morning to catch up on my "regular work" and wanted to take a minute to post and let you know I spoke with John Piccolo, the person at the division in charge of this project. John was very forthcoming and we had some good dialogue. Some things we agreed on and some we did not.

It looks like the pressure brought about by those of us that bothered to be heard on the topic (both TU and non-TU alike) got the state to eliminate 2 of the 3 pavement sections. I believe that the # John gave me was that the first 148' of the upper road will be paved because there was no other way to stabilized the road with a material that will not be washed away in a flood event. They dropped the two sections of paving in the lower road over his objections because of the pressure he received from all of us and from Freshwater Fisheries. What bothers me most is that there is so much information that was not conveyed to us over the years which would most likely have diffused much of this controversy. John told me that parking and access is a requirement of the division whether we like it or not. Also, the local town(s) met with the division and insisted that the road be accessible for emergency vehicles (not for the stocking trucks although they would also obviously be able to use it as well).

I asked why the rt. 513 access was not considered and he told me it was, but due to the ADA (Americans w/Disabilities Act), the trail needed would have been too steep for safe access. Remember, I'm just the messenger here, feel free to take shots at the division all you want.

The two handicapped access platforms is where I dug my heels in because I think we all agree (I know Rick Axt agrees) that these will fail miserably in a flood and we'll be the ones picking up the broken sticks in the lower Gorge. John feels differently, that they will be fine as they were raised above the flood limits, but he also said that if they failed they would not necessarily be rebuilt. A small comfort, but I would have preferred they built them as TU did on the Flatbrook and Pequest because those can withstand the forces of a flood when built correctly and in the correct locations. These handicapped piers are another ADA requirement due to the # of parking spaces being built.

Most of this project is for drainage and for that TU is grateful. This is the one area we've been pushing the state to address for years so that whatever surface the road is made of will not simply wash into the river during high water events and so that the various springs seeping off the hillside don't pour silt into the river even during light rains as they do now. The road is not being "widened", it is to remain at 11' per John. I was impressed that the total amount of disturbance for this entire project is only 400 square feet, about the size of a large living room. The tree removal is only 3 trees - I think it was 2 at the Trestle parking area (those 2 in the middle of the lot) and one for the new lower parking area. Gates will be placed at the top, bottom and where the stone bridge is below the Trestle lot. That gives the division flexibility to close any or all sections of the road as conditions (mostly winter conditions) warrant. TU will make plans to plant trees where some of the historic parking areas are currently located so the 3 being removed will more than be compensated for. I realize some of you think that the drainage plans are bad ones, but I do not. I know Rick Axt who works in this area agrees with me and he's and expert. If we wind up being wrong, and I don't suspect that being the case, then we'll say so here.

John agreed as did Lisa Barno that plans need to be made for a long term solution to a full closure of the road which seems to refute some of what they are saying about the need to provide public access. We all need to be a part of that process because it is still not clear to me what "total closure" means. If that means necking the current road down to a walking trail to minimize the road's negative impacts, then what about the local town's concerns about access for emergency parking? Or do they just mean keeping all public cars off the road and keeping the same width as it is now?

[LopatNympher]

Although I am concerned about what is happening in the KLG, I believe that there is a more pressing issue that we all should be concerned about.
There is a virtual gold rush going on in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York along the Marcellus Shale Formation. It is the Vast supply of natural gas that big oil has their greedy eyes on. Drilling has increased exponetionally over the past few years opening up the possibilities of environmental catastrophe to the watersheds in the region. The challenge receiving perhaps the most attention is how to dispose of all the wastewater that is generated both by the drilling and by the ongoing extraction process. The volume of wastewater connected to these activities is enormous now and will continue to grow as the drilling activity intensifies.
Most wastewater treatment systems cannot remove many of the contaminants commonly found in these drilling and extraction related wastewaters. These contaminants include Chlorides, Salt and Total Dissolved Solids which, when their levels areelevated, they are tough, expensive and slow to remove leading most or all of these contaminants flowing through the treatment systems, leading to higher levels of the contaminants spilling into rivers (as evidenced recently in the Monongahela River) into which the water eventually flows. These elevated levels have the ability to negatively affect the chemical balance in the river.
If this is allowed to continue without the proper handling of wastewater say goodbye to Spring Creek, Penns creek, and all of the other streams we fish in this area.
Below is a map of the ares in the geological region.

[Walshmiko]

Walking paths....I think alot of people go there for hikes, not walks on paved paths.. Anyone ever hear the saying if its not broke don't fix it.. Well there wasnt anything wrong with the gorge, so why play with it. I beleive screwing with mother nature will will bring nothing but ill effects.I don't know abuot anyone else But i dont go to the gorge because its easy to get around, in fact the road is beating the crap out of my car(two broken tie rods and a loose Control arm), and the rocky paths take alot of energry to walk on..Instead I go there for the reason that its simple and left to nature..And far as the handcap areas, its crap, we just gave away one of the best pools to a freaking ramp..A impromvent would be making two lots at either end(get rid of middle) and blocking off acess, other then walking.Whats this paved path going to look like after a few winters and tree roots getting at it?Will we be left with an eye sore? Someone mentioned the drainage issue, anyone ever think the mud comes upstream from farms? Sure some comes off the road but not much..That water is supposed to trickle, not forced down by mans hands.(thats how we wind up with the mud) **Fact** Drainage is never a good idea..And just for the record if i were in a god dam wheel chair Id never expect anyone to ruin such a peaceful place just so I could wet a line from a ramp.

[AaronJasper]

I don't know what to say about this. The state never wanted public opinion on this one. They kept it somewhat secret and there were a few people that were trying to stop it. Maybe if they had millions of dollars and contributed to a politician something could have been done. We are against all odds here, they just do to the public whatever they want and we deal with it. The sad part is that the people in control know this and they abuse it...

[BlackLabel]

Its really a shame but I can't say I'm surprised, this is how our lovely state works. Personally I think the whole thing is a bit strange I mean come in the gorge has been a state park for a long time and thay just recently decided they needed all this crap, yeah ok.

[nutman]

just popping in here ,what ever happened to the highlands water act that was supposed to protect these kind of things? again the state of NJ walks all over the people ,they bought all that land so it could be sold ,for housing projects .once a road goes in then a house can be built .pave a little then someone else complains there is a pot hole .then the house is built .then the people who own the house think they own the shore ,and you cant fish there .NJ TU is weak !!!!!!! I just got their magazine and saw all the praise about the dams on the musky .the musky is being polluted by the homes upstream and the water drainage that is drained right into the musky,from the homes across the street from hackettstown hospital .yeah you knocked a dam down but for what ? Now you are losing the gorge !!!!!!! NJ is ridiculous !!!!! I grew up there only to watch it be taken bit by bit by the government ,free country my yeah my %^&$# free country ,try hi im a politican here to take what i can steal from you .hell next it will be the pequest dirt hole which is treated like crap to .

[Walshmiko]

I agree with nutman, Tu bargined with them from what I hear, Just like a lawyer pleads a case down... Snakes in the grass I say! The freaking place is gonna look like the North Branch in Bedminster...Minus the hot house wifes walking..

[LopatNympher]

Te gorge is just the tip of the iceberg.